BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 

•0- 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


A 


MOSS   TYPE, 


MOSS    ENQ     CO.     N    V. 


Sacred  Mysteries 

AMONG 

THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES, 


11,500   YEARS    AOO. 

THEIR  RELATION  TO  THE  SACRED  MYSTERIES 
OF  EGYPT,  GREECE,  CHALDEA  AND  INDIA. 


FREE   MASONRY 

t0  ttxje  gemplje  jcrf  Stfomon. 


ILLUSTRATED. 

BY 

AUGUSTUS   LE    PLONGEON, 

Author  of  "A  Sketch  of  the  Ancient  Inhabitants  of  Peru,  and  their  Civilization  ; 

"  Vestiges  of  the  Mayas  ;  "  "  Essay  on  Vestiges  of  Antiquity  ;  "  "Essay  on 

the  Causes  of  Earthquakes  ;  "  "  Religion  of  Jesus  compared  with  the 

Teachings  of  the  Church  ;  "  "  The  Monuments  of  May  ax  and 

their  Historical  Teachings." 


NEW  YORK : 
ROBERT  MACOY,  4  BARCLAY  STREET. 


'Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  March  15, 1886,  by 

AUGUSTUS  LE  PLONGEON, 
in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


All  Rights  Reserved . 


MR.  PIERRE  LORILLARD, 


THIS    SMALL    HISTORICAL     STUDY    OF    THE    SACRED    MYSTERIES     PRAC- 
TICED  IN    REMOTE  AGES  BY  THE   MAYAS  AND   QUICHES 

3s  IRespectfuIlB  De&icateO, 

AS  A  FEEBLE  TESTIMONIAL  OF  MY   APPRECIATION   OF   HIS   EFFORTS    TO 

HELP  IN   REMOVING   THE  VEIL  THAT  HAS    SO  LONG   HUNG   OVER 

THE    HISTORY,    CUSTOMS    AND   CIVILIZATION   OF    THE    AN- 

CIENT INHABITANTS  OF  THIS  WESTERN  CONTINENT. 

AUGUSTUS  LE  PLONGEON, 

NEW  YORK,  MAY  20TH,  1886. 


PREFACE. 


THE  forests  of  Yucatan  and  Central  America  are 
to-day,  for  the  majority  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  even  those  who  call  themselves  scientific  and 
well  informed,  as  much  a  terra  incognita,  as  Amer- 
ica was  to  the  inhabitants  of  Europe  before  its  dis- 
covery by  Cristobal  Colon  in  1498,  when  for  the  first 
time  he  came  in  sight  of  the  northern  coast  of  South 
America,  and  navigated  along  it  from  the  mouth  of 
the  river  Orinoco  to  Porto  Cabello  in  the  Golfo 
Triste. 

A  few,  having  perused  the  books  of  J.  L.  Stephens, 
Norman,  and  other  tourists  who  have  hurriedly  vis- 
ited the  ruins  of  the  ancient  cities  that  lie  hidden  in 
the  depths  of  those  forests,  have  a  vague  idea  that 
there  exist  the  remains  of  stone  houses  built  some 
time  or  other  before  the  discovery,  aver  authorita- 
tively that  "  their  builders  were  but  little  removed 
from  the  state  of  savagism,  and  that  none  of  their 
handwork  is  worth  the  attention  of  the  students  of 
our  age.  Their  civilization,  they  confidently  say, 
was  at  best  very  crude.  They  were  ignorant  of  the 


VI  PREFACE. 

art  of  writing;  and  the  scanty  records  of  their  his- 
tory chronicled  on  deer-skins,  in  pictorial  represen- 
tations, are  well  nigh  unintelligible.  They  had  no 
sciences,  no  mental  culture  or  intellectual  develop- 
ment. They  were  in  fact  a  race  whose  intelligence 
was  for  the  most  part  of  lower  order.  From  what 
they  did  nothing  is  to  be  learned  that  has  any  direct 
bearing  on  the  progress  of  civilization. "  In  110  wise 
can  they  be  compared  with  the  Egyptians  or  the 
Chaldees,  much  less  with  the  Greeks  or  Romans; 
it  is  not,  therefore,  worth  our  while  to  spend  time 
and  money  in  researches  among  the  ruins  of  their 
cities.  It  is  to  Greece,  it  is  to  Egypt,  to  Chaldea,  that 
Americans  must  go  in  order  to  make  new  discoveries. 
In  those  countries  must  be  established  schools  for 
study  of  Greek,  or  Egyptian,  or  Chaldean  archaeol- 
ogy: and  American  schools  have  been  established  at 
Athens  and  Alexandria,  and  expeditions  sent  to 
Syria,  to  the  shores  of  the  Euphrates. 

But  the  European  scientists,  who  for  many  years 
past  have  explored  those  old  fields  in  order  to  obtain 
relics  to  fill  the  shelves  of  the  museums  of  their  cap- 
itals and  turned  up  the  soil  of  the  Orient  in  search 
of  archaeological  treasures,  now  look  to  the  Western 
continent  in  quest  of  the  origin  of  those  ancient  civ- 
ilizations which  they  have  been  unable  to  find  in 
the  countries  where  they  once  flourished;  and  they 
look  with  that  reverence  which  true  learning  begets, 


PREFACE.  vii 

on  those  ancient  American  temples  and  palaces  that 
are  objects  of  contempt  for  some  modern  American 
scientists. 

Thus  we  see  established  in  Paris  the  "  Societe  des 
Americanistes  "  whose  sole  object  is  the  study  of  all 
things  pertaining  to  ancient  American  civilization. 
That  Society,  composed  of  students,  spares  no  efforts 
to  obtain  knowledge  respecting  the  architecture,  the 
sciences,  the  arts,  the  language,  and  the  civilization 
of  the  people  who  inhabited,  in  remote  ages,  the 
various  countries  of  this  Western  continent.  A 
premium  of  25,000  francs  has  been  offered  for  the 
discovery  of  an  alphabet  or  key  to  the  inscriptions 
carved  on  the  walls  of  the  monuments  in  Yucatan 
and  Central  America.  M.  Desire  Charnay  has  been 
sent  to  obtain  molds  of  the  sculptures  and  other 
precious  relics  that  he  hidden  and  lost  in  the  recesses 
of  the  Central  American  forests.  Casts  have  been 
made  from  such  squeezes  as  he  obtained.  These 
casts  adorn  the  Trocadero  Museum  at  Paris,  dupli- 
cates of  the  same  having  been  presented  to  the 
Smithsonian  Institute  at  Washington  by  Mr.  Pierre 
Lorillard  of  New  York.  This  gentleman  is  the  only 
American  who  has  ever  contributed  with  his  wealth 
and  influence  (he  has  spent  25,000  dollars)  in  expedi- 
tions for  the  recovery  of  facts  and  objects  that  may 
throw  light  on  the  ancient  history  of  America. 

Then  again  we  have  in  Europe  the  international 


viii  PREFACE. 

"Congres  des  Americanistes "  that  convenes  every 
four  years  in  one  of  the  capitals  of  Europe  for  the 
purpose  of  collecting  all  new  data,  obtained  in  the  in- 
terval, concerning  ancient  American  civilization. 

In  England,  at  Cambridge,  there  is  in  the  Univer- 
sity a  large  building  especially  dedicated  to  Central 
American  archaeology.  There  are  to  be  seen,  as  I 
am  informed  by  General  Sir  Henry  Lef roy,  the  casts 
and  photographs  obtained  by  Mr.  Maudslay,  a 
wealthy  gentleman  who  has  devoted  his  time  and 
wealth  to  the  work  of  obtaining  fac-similes  in 
plaster  and  photographs  of  the  ancient  monuments 
of  Honduras  and  Guatemala. 

But  what  have  we  in  New  York,  in  the  United 
States,  in  fact,  to  offer  to  students  of  American 
archaeology  3 

True,  Mr.  George  Peabody,  among  his  many  bene- 
factions, left  a  sum  of  money  for  the  foundation  of 
a  museum  to  be  specially  dedicated  to  the  collection 
of  objects  pertaining  to  American  archaeology.  Such 
museum  exists  at  the  University  of  Cambridge, 
Massachusetts.  It  bears  his  name.  Does  it  contain 
anything  that  may  throw  light  on  the  history  of  the 
ancient  inhabitants  of  this  Western  Continent?  I 
once  wrote  to  an  influential  gentlemen  connected 
with  the  University  asking  him  to  propose  to  the 
trustees  the  purchase  of  a  copy  of  my  collections  of 
casts  and  mural  paintings.  His  answer  dated  July 


PREFACE.  ix 

23d,  1885,  was:  "I  will  send  your  letter  to  one  of 
"  the  trustees,  enjoining  him  to  accept  its  offer,  but 
"  I  fear  they  will  treat  that  proposal  as  they  have  so 
"many  others  and  say  no !  The  collection  of  trac- 
ings they  ought  to  secure.  The  time  has  come 
"when  such  things  should  be  got  at  any  cost.  We 
"shall  soon  be  as  they  are  in  India,  hunting 
"everywhere  for  things  which  were  easily  to  be 
"had  a  few  years  ago." 

My  correspondent  has  visited  the  ruined  cities  of 
Yucatan;  he  knows  the  value  of  my  collections. 

I  have  done  all  in  my  power  to  call  the  attention 
of  American  scientists,  of  the  men  of  leisure  and 
money,  to  the  fact  that  in  New  York  perfect  fac- 
similes of  the  palaces  and  temples  of  the  Mayas  could 
be  erected  in  Central  Park,  both  as  ornament  to  the 
place,  and  object  of  study  for  the  lovers  of  American 
archaeology  who  may  not  have  the  means,  nor  the 
time,  nor  the  desire,  to  run  the  risk  of  submitting 
to  the  privations  and  hardships  that  those  who  wish 
to  visit  the  ruined  cities,  must  inevitably  encounter. 

But  alas  !  all  in  vain. 

Three  years  ago  I  had  casts  made  from  some  of  the 
stereotyped  moulds  made  by  me  of  the  sculptures  at 
Uxmal  and  offered  them  for  exhibition  in  the  Met- 
ropolitan Museum  of  Art  in  Central  Park.  They 
have  been  placed  in  the  cellar,  out  of  the  way,  "for 
want  of  space  against  the  wall."  The  public  has 


X  PREFACE. 

never  seen  them.  I  once  remonstrated  with  one  of 
the  trustees,  and  proposed  to  sell  to  the  museum  a 
copy  of  the  collection  of  fresco  paintings  from 
Chichen  Itza,  last  remnants  of  ancient  American  art. 
The  answer  of  the  gentleman  was  "  No!  those  things 
are  not  appreciated,  they  are  looked  upon  as  of  no 
value."  Nevertheless,  some  of  the  illustrations  in 
this  book  are  photographs  of  the  same  despised  casts 
and  mural  paintings. 

During  the  last  lecturing  season  I  offered  to  sev- 
eral literary,  scientific  and  historical  societies,  to 
give  lectures  illustrated  with  views  made  by  us  of 
the  monuments,  and  enlarged  with  the  stereopticon. 
In  every  instance  I  received  the  same  answer. 
"  Our  people  are  not  interested  in  such  a  subject." 
What !  Americans  not  interested  in  American 
antiquities!  in  ancient  American  history!  in  ancient 
American  civilization! 

Desiring  to  make  the  subject  known  before  the 
lecture  season  was  over,  en  desespoir  de  cause,  I 
asked  Dr.  John  Stoughton  Newbury,  of  the  School 
of  Mines  at  Columbia  College,  if  he  could  give  me  a 
chance  to  present  the  subject  before  the  members  of 
the  New  York  Academy  of  Science.  I  had  no  hope 
of  a  favorable  answer;  but  to  my  great  surprise  Pro- 
fessor Newbury  received  my  offer  enthusiastically. 
Mrs'.  Le  Plongeon  lectured  on  the  monuments  of 
Yucatan  on  the  2nd  of  March  last,  at  Columbia  Col- 


PREFACE.  XI 

lege.  Let  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  who  were  pres- 
ent say  if  the  facts  and  views  presented  to  them 
were  of  sufficient  interest  to  command  their  attention. 
A  lady,  Mrs.  Francis  B.  Arnold,  residing  at  21  West 
12th  Street,  New  York,  was  so  pleased  that  she 
asked  Mrs.  Le  Plongeon  to  lecture  at  her  own  house 
to  a  select  party  of  friends.  Let  again  the  ladies  and 
gentlemen  who  were  present  at  Mrs.  Arnold's  house, 
say  if  there  is  nothing  worth  seeing  and  studying  in 
the  remains  of  ancient  American  civilization. 

Let  Mrs.  Arnold  and  Dr.  Newbury  accept  our 
heartfelt-thanks  for  affording  us  an  opportunity  of 
presenting  ancient  America  to  a  few  appreciative 
minds,  if  no  more. 

Mrs.  Le  Plongeon  and  I  have  written  two  works 
on  Yucatan.  One  is:  "  Monuments  of  May  ax,  and 
their  historical  teachings."  The  other:  "  Yucatan, 
its  ancient  palaces  and  modern  cities;  life  and  cus- 
toms of  the  Aborigines."  We  have  offered  them  to 
several  publishing  houses,  but  the  same  answer  has 
been  given  by  all.  "  There  is  no  money  in  the  pub- 
lication of  such  books;  American  readers  do  not  care 
for  this  subject." 

Notwithstanding  such  rebuffs,  I  made  up  my  mind 
to  present  to  American  readers  some  of  the  historical 
facts  that  have  been  brought  to  light  by  deciphering 
the  bas-reliefs  and  mural  inscriptions,  by  means  of 
the  ancient  hieratic  Maya  alphabet  discovered  by  me. 


Xll 


PEE  FACE, 


Ancient  Maya  Hieratic  alphabet  ac- 
cording to  mural  inscriptions. 


Egyptian  Hieratic  alphabet  ac- 
cording to  Messrs.  Champollion  le 
Jeune  and  Bunsen. 


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S.D. 


I  offer  them  in  this  small  volume  that  I  take  pleas- 
ure in  dedicating  to  Mr.  Pierre  Lorillard,  as  the  most 
worthy  of  it  among  the  Americans,  for  his  generous 
help  to  students  of  American  archaeology. 

If  the  perusal  of  this  book  fails  to  awaken  in  this 
country  an  interest  in  ancient  American  civilization 
and  history,  then  I  will  follow  the  advice  said  to 
have  been  given  by  Jesus  of  Nazareth  to  his  dis- 


PREFACE.  xiu 

ciples  when  sending  them  on  their  mission  of 
spreading  the  gospel  among  the  nations:  "And 
"  whomsoever  shall  not  receive  you,  nor  hear  you, 
"  when  ye  depart  thence,  shake  off  the  dust  under 
1 '  your  feet.  .  .  "  St.  Mark,  chap,  vi.,  verse  11 — for 
I  shall  consider  it  useless  to  spend  more  time,  labor, 
and  money  on  the  subject  in  the  United  States,  re- 
membering the  fate  of  Professor  Morse,  when  he 
asked  Congress  for  permission  to  introduce  his  elec- 
tric telegraph  in  this  country. 

In  this  small  book  (which  two  of  the  most  prom- 
inent firms  in  New  York  have  positively  refused  to 
publish  believing  it  to  be  a  bad  speculation),  I  pre- 
sent only  such  facts  as  can  be  proved  by  the  works 
of  well-known  writers  ancient  and  modern,  and 
by  the  inscriptions  carved  on  stone  by  the  Maya 
learned  men  and  historians.  It  is  for  you,  Reader, 
to  judge  if  they  are  worthy  your  consideration. 


ILLUSTRATIOIsrS.* 


Symbolical  stone  found  in  the  Mausoleum  of  high 

pontiff  Cay  at  Chichen. 19 

View  of  the  pyramid  called  "  House  of  the  Dwarf," 

at  Uxrnal 34 

Ground  plan  of  the  Sanctuary,  35 

Ground  plan  of  the  Temple  of  Mysteries,         ...         36 

Part  of  cornice  surrounding  the  Sanctuary,        ...      39 

Cross  bones  and  skeletons  carved  on  the  cornice  of  the 

Sanctuary,  39 

Part  of  a  statue  with  apron  on  which  is  sculptured  the 

image  of  an  extended  hand.  (From  Uxmal.)  .  .  40 

Symbolical  slab  with  title  of  the  high  pontiff,        .        .          45 

Symbols  from  the  turret  dedicated  to  the  high  pontiff 

Cay  in  the  palace  of  King  Can,  at  Uxmal,  .  .  65 

Tableau  of  the  creation,  from  the  east  fagade  of  the 

palace  at  Chichen-Itza, 72 

Prince  Coh  in  battle  (from  mural  paintings  at  Chichen- 
Itza),  78 

Prince  Coh's  body  laid  out  for  cremation  (from  mural 

paintings  at  Chichen-Itza), 80 

Slab  from  Prince  Coh's  Mausoleum,  at  Chichen,  leop- 
ard eating  the  heart  of  his  enemies,  ....  85 

Dying  leopard  with  human  head,  from  Prince  Coh's 

Mausoleum  at  Chichen-Itza, 86 

Priest  of  Osiris  making  an  offering  (from  the  tombs  of 

Thebes),  .  86 


xvi  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Statue  of  Prince  Coh,   found  in  his  Mausoleum  at 
Chichen-Itza,  now  in  the  National  Museum  in  the 

City  of  Mexico, 87 

Slab  from  Prince  Coh's  Mausoleum  at  Chichen,  repre- 
senting Queen  Moo,  under  the  figure  of  a  macaw, 
eating  the  heart  of  her  enemies,         ....          88 
Tableau  of  the  Mastodon  worship,  at  Chichen,        .        .      93 
Sculptures  on  monolith  gate  at  Tiahuanuco  (Peru), 
from  a  model  in  the  museum  of  the  Long  Island 
Historical  Society  in  Brooklyn,          ....         102 
Small  terra  cotta  heads  from  British  Honduras,         .        .     104 
Symbols  of  lower  Egypt  (from  Sir  Gardner  Wilkin- 
son's works  on  Egypt), 115 

Plate  XVII,  part  II.  of  Troano  M.S.,  ....     116 

Plate  XXV.  part  II.   of  Troano  M.S.,   head  dress  of 

mother  Earth, 118 

Bas-reliefs  from  small  room  at  the  foot  of  Prince  Coh's 

monument  at  Chichen-Itza,  ....     118,  119 

Maps  of  the  Maya  Empire, 120 

Yaxche,  sacred  tree  of  the  Mayas, 124 

Plate  VI.,  part  II.  of  Troano  M.S.,  ....        126 

Worship  of  sacred  tree  (Papaya)  from  a  Mexican  M.S., 

in  the  library  of  the  British  Museum,       .        .        .         134 
Plate  XXIV.,  part  I.,  Troano  M.S.,             .        .        .        .137 
Sons  of  King  Can,  represented  under  the  symbol  of 
deer-heads,  totem  of  the  country,  plate  XVI,  part 
II.  of  Troano,  M.S.,        - 139 

*From  drawings  and  photographs  made  by  the  author,  and  engraved  by  the 
Moss  Engraving  Co.,  by  the  new  process  of  Mr.  John  C.  Moss. 


SACRED    MYSTERIES 


AMONG 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES. 


THERE  are  authors  who  attribute  the  origin 
of  modern  Free  Masonry  to  the  followers  of 
Pythagoras,  because  some  of  the  •  specula- 
tions of  that  Philosopher  concerning  the  meaning 
of  the  numbers  are  to  be  found  in  the  esoteric 
doctrines  taught  in  the  masonic  lodges.  Others, 
on  account  of  the  Christian  symbols  that  have 
been  incorporated  in  the  decoration  of  things 
pertaining  to  Masonry,  following  the  Swedish  sys- 
tem, say  that  the  Essenes  and  first  Christians  founded 
it.  Others,  again,  make  it  originate  in  the  building 
of  Solomon's  temple,  many  Jewish  names,  emblems 
and  legends,  taken  from  the  Bible,  having  found 
their  way  into  the  rites  of  initiation  to  several  de- 
grees. Others,  still,  make  it  go  back  to  Adam.  Ask 
them  why  —  they  do  not  know.  While  not  a 
few,  and  I  among  them,  earnestly  believe  that 
Masonry  existed  before  Adam  was  created.  I 


2  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

believe  it,  because  I  am  convinced  that  this  pre- 
tended ancestor  of  man  is  a  myth — and  has  never 
existed.  Thomas  Payne  and  those  of  his  school  say 
that  the  Druids  were  the  fathers  of  the  craft;  they 
being  worshipers  of  the  sun,  moon  and  stars :  and 
these  jewels  of  the  firmament  being  represented  on. 
the  ceilings  of  the  M.  * .  lodges.  Dance  of  Villoisoii 
speaks  of  Herculaneum  as  its  birth  place,  because  of 
the  many  similarities  that  existed  between  the  col- 
legia of  the  Romans  and  the  lodges  of  the  operative 
Masons  of  the  middle  ages.  Michael  Andrew  Ram- 
say, a  Scotch  gentleman,  in  a  discourse  delivered  in 
Paris  in  1T40,  suggested  the  possibility  of  the  fra- 
ternity having  its  origin,  in  the  time  of  the  crusades, 
among  the  Knight  Templars,  and  he  explains  it  in 
this  way  :— 

The  Pope,  Clement  V.,  and  Phillippe-le-bel,  King 
of  France,  fearing  the  power  of  the  Templars  and 
coveting  their  immense  wealth,  resolved  to  destroy 
the  Order.  When,  in  1308,  Jacques  de  Molay,  then 
Grand  Master  of  the  Order,  was  preparing  an  expe- 
dition to  avenge  the  wrongs  and  disasters  suffered 
by  the  Christians  in  the  East,  the  Pope,  who  was  the 
only  power  to  which,  in  the  spiritual,  the  Templars 
owed  allegiance,  enticed  him  to  France. 

On  his  arrival  he  was  received  with  every  mark  of 
friendship:  but,  soon  after,  the  King  caused  him  to  be 
arrested  together  with  some  of  the  other  dignitaries, 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  3 

accusing  them  of  the  most  heinous  crimes,  imputing 
to  them  the  secret  rites  of  their  initiation.  By  order 
of  the  Archbishop  of  Sens  and  his  provincial  coun- 
cil, Jacques  de  Molay,  Guy  of  Auvergne  and  several 
other  officers  of  the  Order  were  burned  alive  on 
March  18,  1314. 

The  Pope,  by  a  bull  dated  on  the  2d  of  April,  and 
published  on  the  2d  of  May,  1312,  that  he  issued  on 
his  own  responsibility,  the  Council  of  Vienne,  in 
Dauphine,  being  adverse  to  hasty  measures,  declared 
the  Order  abolished  throughout  the  world.  The  ex- 
ecution of  the  Grand  Master  and  his  companions 
gave  the  coup  de  grace  to  the  Order.  Some  of  the 
Knights  who  had  escaped  to  Portugal  continued  the 
Order.  They  assumed  the  title  of  Knights  of  Christ, 
which  it  bears  to  this  day;  but  it  never  recovered  its 
former  prestige  and  power. 

Jacques  de  Molay,  before  dying  had  appointed 
Johan  Marcus  Larmenio  as  his  successor  to  the  office 
of  Grand  Master.  The  Knights  who,  fleeing  from 
the  persecution,  had  taken  refuge  in  Scotland  at  the 
Court  of  King  Robert  Bruce,  refused  to  recognize  his 
authority;  and  pretending  to  reestablish  the  Order 
of  the  Temple,  under  the  allegory  and  title  of  Archi- 
tects, protected  by  the  King,  laid  the  foundation  of 
the  Order  of  Free  and  Accepted  Masons  of  the  Scot- 
tish Rite  in  1314. 

This  new  society  soon  forgot  the  meaning  of  the 


4  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

execratory  path  that  the  members  were  obliged  to 
take  at  their  initiation ;  the  death  of  Clement  V., 
of  Phillippe-le-bel,  of  the  accusers  and  enemies  of 
Jacques  de  Molayand  the  other  Knights  who  had  been 
executed,  having  removed  the  object  of  their  ven- 
geance. Still  they  continued  to  decorate  their  lodges 
with  tokens  commemorative  of  the  death  of  the 
Grand  Master,  to  impose  on  all  new  members  the 
obligation  of  avenging  it,  which  they  signified  by 
striking  with  an  unsheathed  dagger  at  unseen  beings, 
his  supposed  murderers,  although  all  their  efforts 
were  now  directed  to  the  restoration  of  the  honor 
of  their  association.  This  allegory  is  well-known 
to  the  Knights  of  Kadosh.  A  century  had  scarcely 
elapsed  when  this  idea  also  was  abandoned,  the 
founders  and  their  disciples  having  passed  away. 
Their  successors  saw  only  allegories  in  the  symbols 
of  the  Order,  and  the  extensive  use  of  words  and 
texts  from  the  Bible  was  then  introduced.  Of  their 
work  but  little  is  positively  known  until  the  reign  of 
Charles  I.  of  England,  when  their  mysterious  initia- 
tions began  to  attract  attention. 

The  enemies  of  Cromwell  and  of  the  Republic, 
having  in  view  the  reestablishment  of  the  monarchy, 
created  the  degree  of  Grand  Master  to  prepare  the 
minds  of  the  Masons  for  that  event.  King  Wil- 
liam III.  was  initiated.  Masonry,  says  Preston,  was 
very  much  neglected  as  early  as  the  reign  of  James 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  5 

II.,  and  even  after  this  period  it  made  but  slow  prog- 
ress until  1714,  when  King  George  I.  ascended  the 
throne. 

Three  years  later,  in  February,  1717,  the  first  Grand 
Lodge  was  established  in  London.  A  committee 
from  the  four  lodges  then  existing  in  that  city  met 
at  the  tavern  of  the  "  Apple  Tree  "  and  nominated 
Anthony  Sayer,  who  was  elected  Grand  Master  on 
the  24th  of  the  following  June,  day  of  St.  John  the 
Baptist,  that  for  this  reason  was  selected  as  patron 
of  the  Order. 

This  origin  of  the  craft  is  credited  by  many  of  the 
best  authorities  on  the  subject.  They  found  their 
opinion  on  the  fact  that  many  of  the  ceremonies 
practiced  by  the  Architects  are  still  observed  among 
the  Masons ;  and  that  the  Grand  Lodge  preserved, 
with  the  spirit  of  the  ancient  brotherhood,  its  fun- 
damental laws.  There  are  others,  however,  who 
likewise  claim  to  be  well  informed,  that  pretend  it 
did  not  originate  in  any  order  of  chivalry,  but  in 
the  building  fraternities  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

Be  the  origin  what  it  may,  the  fact  is  that  after 
the  establishment  of  the  Grand  Lodge  at  "  Apple 
Tree  Tavern,"  Masonry  spread  over  Europe  at  a 
rapid  rate,  notwithstanding  the  bitter  opposition  of 
the  Church  of  Rome  that  fulminated  against  it  its 
most  terrible  anathemas  as  early  as  1738  at  the  in- 
stigation of  the  Inquisition.  Pope  Clement  XII. ,  on 


6  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

the  28th  of  April  of  that  year,  caused  a  prohibitory 
bull  to  be  issued  against  Free  Masonry,  entitled  In 
Eminently  in  which  he  excommunicated  all  Masons; 
and  the  Cardinal  Vicar  of  Rome,  by  edict  in  the 
name  of  the  High  Priest  of  the  God  of  Peace  and 
Mercy,  decreed  the  penalty  of  death  against  them  in 
1739  ;  and  on  May  18,  1751,  Pope  Benoit  XIV.  re- 
newed the  bull  of  Clement  XII.  by  another  beginning 
with  these  words:  Providas  Romanorum  Pontificum. 

The  Order  was  introduced  in  France  in  1725,  and 
on  the  14th  of  September,  1732,'  all  Masonic  Asso- 
ciations were  prohibited  by  a  decree  of  the  Chamber 
of  Police  of  the  Chatelet  of  Paris. 

In  1727,  Lord  Coleraine  founded  a  lodge  in  Gib- 
raltar, and  in  the  succeeding  year  in  Madrid,  the 
capital  of  Spain,  the  strong-hold  of  the  Inquisition. 

But  in  1740,  in  consequence  of  the  bull  of  Clement 
XII.,  King  Philip  V.,  of  Spain,  promulgated  an  ordi- 
nance against  the  Masons  in  his  kingdom,  many  of 
whom  were  arrested  and  sent  to  the  galleys.  The 
Inquisitors  took  advantage  of  the  opportunity  to 
persecute  the  members  of  a  lodge  they  discovered 
in  Madrid.  They  caused  them  to  be  loaded  with 
chains,  to  be  obliged  to  row  in  the  galleys  without 
other  retribution  than  scanty  rations  of  victuals  of 
the  poorest  quality,  but  an  abundant  supply  of  bas- 
tinade.  Fernando  VI.  renewed  the  ordinance  on 
July  2,  1751,  making  Masonry  high  treason. 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  7 

The  brotherhood  made  its  appearance  in  Ireland 
in  1730.  It  is  not  positively  known  if  it  existed  in 
the  country  before  that  time. 

In  1732  it  crossed  the  Atlantic  and  was  imported 
in  America.  In  that  year  a  lodge  was  held  in  "  Tun 
tavern  "  in  Philadelphia,  the  B.  *.  having  previously 
met  in  Boston,  which  may  be  regarded  as  the  birth- 
place of  American  Free  Masonry.  Henry  Price  was 
the  first  provincial  Grand  Master  appointed  by  the 
Grand  Lodge  of  England  on  April  30th,  1733. 

The  same  year  witnessed  its  establishment  in  va- 
rious cities  of  Italy.  In  1735,  the  Grand  Duke  Fran- 
cis of  Lorraine  was  initiated.  He  protected  the 
Masons,  and  the  craft  flourished  in  Italy  until  1737, 
when  Juan  Gaston  of  Medicis,  Grand  Duke  of  Tus- 
cany, issued  a  decree  of  prohibition  against  it.  Soon 
after  his  death,  which  occurred  the  same  year,  the 
lodges  which  had  been  closed  were  reopened.  It  was 
not  long,  however,  before  they  were  denounced  to  the 
Pope  Clement  XII.,  who  issued  his  bull  of  28th  of 
April  1738,  and  sent  an  inquisitor  to  Florence  who 
caused  various  members  of  the  society  to  be  cast  into 
dungeons.  They  were  set  at  liberty  as  soon  as 
Francis  of  Lorraine  became  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany. 
He  not  only  protected  the  Masons,  but  founded  lodges 
in  Florence  and  other  places  in  his  estates. 

In  1735  a  lodge  was  established  in  Lisbon  the 
capital  of  Portugal.  It  will  be  remembered  that 


8  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

some  of  the  Knight  Templars,  under  the  title  of 
" Knights  of  Christ,"  had  kept  alive  the  ancient 
order  in  that  country  in  defiance  of  the  Pope's 
thunderbolts. 

Among  the  Masons  initiated  in  England  were 
a  great  many  Germans  as  early  as  1730.  These  seem 
to  have  met  occasionally  in  traveling  in  Germany, 
or  to  have  corresponded  with  each  other;  but  no 
lodge  is  known  to  have  existed  previous  to  the  year 
1737,  when  one  without  name  was  established  in 
Hamburg,  although  Grand  Master  Lord  Strathmore 
had  authorized  in  1733,  eleven  gentlemen  and  Broth- 
ers to  open  one. 

In  1740,  B.  Puttman,  of  the  Hamburg  lodge,  re- 
ceived a  patent  of  Provincial  Grand  Master  from 
England,  and  the  lodge  assumed  the  title  of  Absa- 
lom. 

King  Frederick  II.,  denominated  the  Great,  whilst 
still  Crown  Prince,  had  been  initiated;  and  from  the 
time  of  his  initiation  took  great  interest  in  the  wel- 
fare of  the  brotherhood.  Crowned  King  of  Prussia, 
he  continued  to  give  it  his  support,  assuming  the 
title  of  "Great  master  universal,  and  Conservator  of 
the  most  ancient  and  most  respectable  association  of 
ancient  free  masons  or  architects  of  Scotland. "  Ma- 
sonry enjoyed  under  his  reign  such  consideration, 
that  many  German  princes,  following  his  example, 
were  initiated;  and  so  many  of  the  nobility  joined 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES. 

the  society,  that  to  belong  to  it  came  to  be  regarded 
as  a  mark  of  nobility  and  high  breeding. 

Notwithstanding  his  multifarious  State  duties,  and 
the  many  wars  that  took  place  during  his  reign,  which 
demanded  his  constant  attention,  he  found  time  to 
frame  a  constitution  to  cement  together  again  the 
Order,  that  at  one  time,  owing  to  external  persecu- 
tions on  the  one  hand,  to  internal  dissensions,  suscita- 
ted  by  the  incorporation  to  it  of  the  Eosicrucians  and 
still  more  that  of  the  Illuminati  on  the  other,  seemed 
on  the  eve  of  falling  asunder.  That  constitution, 
signed  by  him  in  his  palace  at  Berlin,  on  the  1st  of 
May,  1786,  saved  Free  Masonry  from  annihilation  in 
Germany,  for  many  regarding  it  with  suspicion,  at- 
tacked and  persecuted  it:  the  Catholics  because  it 
came  from  Protestant  England;  the  Protestant 
clergy  looked  upon  it  as  hostile  to  Christianity,  be- 
cause of  the  teachings  and  symbols  altogether  Catho- 
lic of  the  18th  degree,  those  of  Eosa  Cruz,  whose 
motto  "  we  have  the  happiness  of  being  in  the  paci- 
fic unity  of  the  sacred  numbers,"  and  "in  the  name 
of  the  holy  and  indivisible  Trinity,"  bespeaks  its 
Jesuit  origin.  The  people  believed  in  the  accusation 
of  witchcraft  and  sorcery,  made  against  it  by  its 
enemies,  because  of  the  vail  of  secrecy  thrown  over 
their  meetings. 

Authors  have  endeavored  to  show  that  modern 
free-masonry  is  not  derived  from  the  mysteries 


10  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

of  the  ancients.  J.  G-.  Findel,  an  advocate  of 
this  opinion,  says:  "  Seeing  that  the  ancient  sym- 
bolical marks  and  ceremonials  in  the  lodges  bear 
a  very  striking  resemblance  to  those  of  the  mysteries 
of  the  ancients  some  have  allowed  themselves  to 
be  deceived,  and  led  others  astray  imagining  they 
can  trace  back  the  history  of  the  craft  into  the 
cloudy  mists  of  antiquity.  Instead  of  endeavoring 
to  ascertain  how  and  when  these  ceremonies  were 
introduced  into  our  present  system,  they  have  taken 
it  for  granted  that  they  were  derived  from  the 
religious  mysteries  of  the  ancients." 

Now,  if  we  merely  consider  the  tokens  of  recogni- 
tion, the  pass  words  and  secret  words,  the  decora- 
tions of  the  lodges,  according  to  the  degrees  into 
which  modern  Masonry  is  divided,  tokens,  words 
and  decorations  nearly  all  taken  from  the  Bible  and 
symbolical  of  events,  real  or  imaginary,  some  of 
which  are  said  to  have  taken  place  in  comparatively 
modern  times,  after  the  decline  and  final  discontin- 
uance of  the  ancient  mysteries  in  consequence  of 
the  spread  of  Christianity;  others  having  occurred 
in  the  early  days  of  the  Christian  era;  others  at  the 
time  of  the  building  of  Solomon's  Temple,  all  of  which 
had  certainly  nothing  to  do  with  the  religious  mys- 
teries of  Egypt,  Chaldea,  Greece,  Etruria,  etc.,  that 
were  instituted  ages  before  the  pretended  occurrence 
of  those  events,  then  we  may  positively  affirm  that 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  11 

it  is  not  derived  from  these.  But  if,  on  the  other 
hand,  we  observe,  and  it  is  difficult  to  overlook 
it,  that  these  symbols  are  precisely  the  same  that 
we  find  in  the  temples  of  Egypt,  Chaldea,  India, 
and  Central  America,  whatever  may  have  been  the 
esoteric  meaning  given  to  them  by  the  initiated 
of  those  countries,  we  are  bound  to  admit  that  a 
link  exists  between  the  ancient  mysteries  and  Free 
Masonry.  It  is  for  us  to  try  to  discover  when  that 
link  was  riveted  and  by  whom. 

If  the  theory  of  Chevalier  Kamsay  be  true,  that 
is,  if  modern  Masonry  had  its  beginning  in  the 
Society  of  Architects  founded  in  Scotland  under  the 
protection  of  King  Kobert  Bruce,  and  the  title  of 
"Ancient  and  Accepted  Masons  of  the  Scottish  rite," 
seems  to  favor  that  opinion,  then  we  may  trace  its 
origin  to  the  order  of  Knight  Templars;  and  through 
them  to  the  ancient  mysteries  practiced  in  the  East 
from  times  immemorial.  It  is  well  known  that  one 
of  the  charges  made  against  Jacques  de  Molay  and 
his  associates  by  their  accusers  was  that  they  used 
secret  rites  in  their  initiations.  Their  four  oaths 
were  well  known;  but  not  their  rites  of  initiation. 
What  were  they  ? 

We  are  told  that  the  aim  of  the  Society  of  Archi- 
tects was  to  perpetuate  the  ancient  Order  of  the 
Temple.  It  is  therefore  to  be  presumed  that  they 
continued  to  observe  the  rites  and  ceremonies  prac- 


12  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

ticed  in  the  chapters  of  the  Templars,  to  use  them  at 
the  initiations  of  members  into  the  new  Society,  to 
whom  they  communicated  the  intimate  meaning  of 
their  symbols.  Were  these  rites  analogous  to  those 
observed  in  the  initiations  to  the  symbolical  degrees  ? 
These  degrees  were,  it  must  be  remembered,  the  only 
ones  originally  recognized  by  the  brotherhood;  as 
there  are  but  three  in  the  Society  of  Jesus;  the  Neo- 
phites — the  Coadjutors — and  the  Profess;  as  there 
were  anciently  among  the  priests  of  the  temples  of 
Egypt,  who  indeed  considered  it  a  great  honor  to  be 
judged  worthy  of  admission  to  the  third  degree;  that 
is,  to  participation  in  the  greater  mysteries.  Was 
their  explanation  of  the  symbols  similar  to  that 
taught  in  M.  * .  lodges  ?  The  Templars  were  accused, 
as  Masons  are  to  day,  by  the  Romish  Church,  since 
it  has  lost  its  hold  and  influence  on  the  association, 
of  the  crime  of  heresy,  and  many  Masons  have 
suffered  death  by  being  burnt  alive  as  heretics. 

From  whom  did  the  Templars  receive  those  sym- 
bols, and  their  esoteric  meaning,  in  which  we  plainly 
trace  the  doctrine  of  Pythagoras  ?  No  doubt  from 
the  Christians  who,  like  the  Emperor  Julian,  the 
Bishop  Synnesius,  Clement  of  Alexandria  and 
many  other  pagan  philosophers,  who  had  been  in- 
itiated to  the  mysteries  by  the  priests  of  Egypt,  be- 
fore being  converted  to  Christianity.  In  that  case 
the  connection  of  modern  Masonry  with  the  ancient 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  13 

religious  mysteries  of  Egypt,  consequently  with 
those  of  Greece  and  Samothracia  is  easily  traced; 
and  the  resemblance  of  the  symbolical  marks  and 
ceremonials  of  M.  • .  lodges  with  those  of  the  mys- 
teries naturally  accounted  for.  Thus  it  is  that  many 
masonic  authors  may  have  been  led  to  trace  the 
origin  of  the  craft  to  followers  of  Pythagoras;  and 
others  to  the  Essenes  and  first  Christians. 

Krause,  in  his  work,  has  endeavored  to  prove 
that  Masonry  originated  in  the  associations  of  opera- 
tive masons  that  in  the  Middle  Ages  travelled 
through  Europe,  and  by  whom  the  cathedrals, 
monasteries,  and  castles  were  built;  whose  funda- 
mental laws,  traditions,  customs  and  tools  are  now 
used  in  the  lodges  in  a  figurative  sense. 

These  associations  may  have  sprung  from  the 
building  corporations  of  the  Romans:  if  so,  we  have 
a  connecting  link  between  the  lodges  of  the  Middle 
Ages  and  the  mysteries  of  the  ancients.  The  initiates 
of  the  architectural  collegia  of  the  Romans  did  not 
call  themselves  Brothers;  this  is  a  title  that  came 
into  use  only  when  the  Christian  Masonic  fraterni- 
ties adopted  it.  They  styled  themselves  Collega  or 
Incorporatus. 

They  worked  in  buildings  apart  or  in  secluded 
rooms;  and  the  constitution  of  M.  * .  lodges,  so  far  as 
the  officers,  their  titles  and  duties,  and  the  symbols 
are  concerned,  is  so  similar  to  theirs  that  one  might 


U  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

be  inclined  to  believe  that  the  early  Masons  imitated 
the  Eoman  collegia. 

This  theory  is  not  without  semblance  of  plausi- 
bility. Eome,  during  several  centuries,  held  sway 
over  Gaul  and  Britain.  Koman  colonists  settled  in 
various  parts  of  those  countries.  With  their  lan- 
guage and  customs  they  imported  many  of  their 
institutions  and  associations.  That  of  the  builders  or 
collegia,  as  is  manifest  from  the  remains  still  existing 
of  the  magnificent  roads  and  edifices  of  various  kinds 
constructed  by  them.  The  Collegae  held  their 
lodges  wherever  they  established  themselves;  no 
doubt  initiated  new  members.  In  the  course  of  time, 
when  those  countries  freed  themselves  from  the  yoke 
of  Eome,  these  societies  of  builders  became  the  asso- 
ciations of  the  itinerant  operative  masons  which 
inherited  the  symbols,  tokens  and  pass  words  of  the 
Collegse.  These,  in  all  probability,  had  received  them, 
either  from  the  Chaldean  magicians,  who  flocked  to 
Eome  at  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  when 
.the  progress  of  philosophical  incredulity  had  shaken 
the  confidence  in  legal  divination;  or  from  some  of 
the  priests  of  inferior  order,  all  initiated  to  part  of  the 
lesser  mysteries,  that,  when  the  sacerdotal  class  hav- 
ing lost  in  majesty,  power  and  wealth,  in  order  to 
preserve  whole  its  numerous  hierarchy,  repaired  to 
the  Capital  of  the  world  to  escape  misery  by  levying 
contributions  on  the  credulity  and  superstition  of 
the  people. 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  15 

The  Christian  Church,  on  the  one  hand,  the  Roman, 
emperors  on  the  other,  fearing  the  influence  of  those 
magicians  and  priests,  persecuted  them  even  to 
death.  These  learned  and  wise  men  formed  secret 
societies  to  preserve  and  transmit  their  knowledge. 
These  societies  lasted  during  the  Middle  Ages — the 
Rosicrucians,  the  Theurgists,  among  them.  Leibnitz, 
one  of  the  greatest  men  of  science  that  ever  lived, 
who  died  in  Hanover,  in  1716,  at  the  age  of  seventy 
years,  became  a  member  of  one  of  these  societies; 
and  there  received  an  instruction  he  had  vainly 
sought  elsewhere. 

Were  their  mysterious  meetings  remnants  of  the 
ancient  learned  initiations  ?  Everything  tends  to 
make  us  suspect  it.  The  trials  and  examinations  to 
which  those  who  applied  for  initiation  were  obliged 
to  submit;  the  nature  of  the  secrets  they  possessed; 
the  manner  in  which  they  were  preserved.  In  these 
again  may  be  found  an  explanation  of  why  so  many 
of  the  Pythagorean  doctrines  made  their  way  into 
Masonry. 

Of  the  ceremonies  performed  at  the  initiation  into 
the  mysteries  of  Egypt  we  know  but  little  at  present, 
for  the  initiated  were  very  careful  to  conceal  these 
sacred  rites.  Herodotus  tells  that  if  any  person  di- 
vulged any  part  of  them,  he  was  thought  to  have 
called  down  Divine  judgment  upon  his  head,  and  it 
was  accounted  unsafe  to  abide  in  the  same  house 


16  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

with  him.     He  was  even  apprehended  as  a  public 
offender  and  put  to  death. 

Still,  on  reading  the  visions  in  the  book  of  Henoch, 
and  comparing  them  with  what  we  know  of  the 
trials  to  which  were  subjected  the  applicants  for 
initiation  into  the  greater  mysteries  of  Eleusis  and 
Egypt,  and  those  of  Xibalba,  one  can  scarcely  refrain 
from  believing  that,  under  the  title  of  Visions,  the 
author  relates  his  experience  at  the  initiation,  and 
what  he  learned  in  the  mysteries  before  being  con- 
verted to  Christianity.  That  book  is  believed  to  have 
been  written  at  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era, 
when,  under  the  yoke  of  the  Roman  emperors,  the 
customs  and  religion  of  the  Egyptians  fell  into  de- 
cadency; and  the  Christian  bishops  of  Alexandria, 
such  as  George,  Theophilus,  Cyril,  the  murderer  of 
the  beautiful,  learned  and  noble  Hypathia,  daughter 
of  the  mathematician  Theon,  persecuted  the  wor- 
shipers of  Isis  and  Osiris,  and  converted  their  temples 
into  Christian  churches,  after  defacing  and  white- 
washing the  ancient  sculptures  that  covered  their 
walls,  on  which  they  painted  rough  images  of  saints. 
It  may  be  that  its  author,  although  having  embraced 
Christianity,  still  retained  in  his  heart  of  hearts  a 
strong  love  for  the  ancient  institutions  that  were 
fast  disappearing  in  the  midst  of  the  political  and 
religious  dissensions  that  were  raging  at  the  time. 
Fearing  lest  the  learning  of  the  priests  of  old  and  the 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  17 

knowledge  he  had  acquired  by  his  initiation  into  the 
mysteries  should  become  lost,  the  dread  of  death  be- 
ing removed  by  the  new  order  of  things,  he  put,  for 
greater  safety,  in  the  mouth  of  Henoch,  as  instruct- 
ing his  son,  what  he  had  seen  and  learned  in  the 
secrecy  of  the  temples. 

Let  us  hope  that  further  discoveries  in  the  ruins 
of  the  temples,  or  in  the  tombs,  may  put  into  our 
possession  some  papyrus  whose  contents  will  throw 
light  on  the  subject,  and  reveal  these  secrets.  The 
masonic  objects  found  under  the  base  of  the  obelisk, 
known  as  Cleopatra's  needle,  now  in  Central 
Park,  New  York,  show  that  many  of  the  symbols 
pertaining  to  the  rites  of  modern  Free  Masonry, 
where  used  in  Egypt  by  building  organizations  and 
architects  at  least  1900  years  ago.  And  although  I 
do  not  agree  with  all  the  conclusions  of  Dr.  Fanton, 
notwithstanding  they  are  approved  by  some  of  the 
high  masons  at  Cairo  and  Alexandria,  I  am  ready  to 
recognize  many  of  the  emblems,  and  admit  that  they 
belonged  to  the  mysteries,  if  their  meaning  anciently 
was  not  quite  the  same  as  we  give  them  to-day. 

The  reluctance  of  the  Egyptians  to  admit  strangers 
to  the  holy  secret  of  their  mysteries  was  for  a  very 
long  time  insuperable.  However,  they  seem  to  have 
relaxed  at  rare  intervals,  in  favor  of  personages 
noted  for  their  wisdom  and  knowledge.  So  they 
admitted  the  great  philosopher  Thales,  who  went  to 


18  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

Egypt  to  learn  geometry  and  astronomy,  about  587 
years  before  the  Christian  era.  Eumolpus,  king  of 
Eleusis,  who,  on  returning  to  his  country,  instituted 
the  mysteries  of  that  name  in  honor  of  the  goddess 
Ceres,  that  presided  over  the  crops  and  other  fruits 
of  the  earth.  Orpheus,  the  celebrated  Greek  poet, 
obtained  likewise  the  honor  of  the  initiation,  and 
established  the  Orphic  ceremonies,  which,  according 
to  Herodotus,  were  observed  alike  by  the  Egyptians 
and  the  Pythagoreans.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
Pythagoras,  after  being  submitted  to  extremely  se- 
vere ordeals,  to  cause  him  to  desist  from  his  desire  of 
being  initiated,  was,  on  account  of  his  firmness, 
granted  the  privilege  of  initiation.  Many  of  the  rites 
and  ceremonies  were  therefore  brought  from  Egypt 
to  Greece.  Speaking  of  the  Thesmophoria  festivals  in 
honor  of  Ceres,  next  in  importance  to  the  mysteries 
of  Eleusis,  Herodotus  says:  "  These  rites  were 
brought  from  Egypt  into  Greece  by  the  daughters 
of  Danaus,  who  taught  them  to  the  Pelagic  women; 
but  in  the  course  of  time  they  fell  into  disuse,  except 
among  the  Arcadians  who  continued  to  preserve 
them.  The  Pelasgians  had  also  initiated  the  inhab- 
itants of  Samothracia.  They  in  turn  taught  the 
Athenians  the  mysteries  of  the  '  Cabiri.' " 

From  that  it  results  that  if  we  desire  to  obtain  an 
insight  of  the  Egyptian  mysteries,  we  must  see  what 
happened  at  the  initiation  into  those  of  Greece. 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  19 

No  one  could  be  admitted  to  the  greater  unless 
they  had  been  purified  at  the  lesser,  and  one  year  at 
least  had  elapsed  since  they  had  become  mystai  or 
initiated. 

The  initiation  to  the  greater  mysteries  when  the 
Mystai  took  the  degree  of  Ephoroi,  that  is  Inspector, 
by  being  instructed  in  the  secret  rites,  except  a  few 
reserved  for  the  priests  alone,  was  as  follows: 

The  candidate,  being  crowned  with  myrtle,  which 
was  used  instead  of  the  acacia,  was  admitted  by 
night  into  an  immense  building  called  the  Mystikos 
Sekos,  that  is  the  "  mystical  enclosure."  At  their 
entrance  they  purified  themselves  by  washing  their 
hands  in  holy  water,  being  at  the  same  time  ad- 
monished to  present  themselves  with  minds  pure 
and  undefiled,  without  which  external  cleanliness  of 
the  body  would  by  no  means  be  accepted.  After 
this  the  holy  mysteries  were  read  to  them  from  a 
book  called  Petroma,  because  the  book  consisted  of 
two  stones  fitly  cemented  together.  I  have  discov- 
ered such  stones,  last  year,  in  the  mausoleum  of  high 
pontiff  Cay,  in  the  city  of  Chichen-Itza,  in  Yucatan. 
The  priest  who  conducted  the  ceremonies  was  called 
hierophantes.  He  proposed  certain  questions,  to  " 
which  answers  were  returned  in  a  set  form.  Then, 
strange  and  amazing  objects  presented  themselves. 
Sometimes  the  place  they  were  in  seemed  to  shake,  as 
if  an  earthquake  was  occurring,  or  whirl  round  and 


20  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

round  as  if  carried  away  in  a  tornado.  Sometimes  it 
appeared  bathed  in  bright  and  resplendent  light,  and 
flames  seemed  to  issue  from  the  walls,  threatening 
to  consume  the  temple;  and  all  of  a  sudden  they 
were  extinguished  by  invisible  hands,  and  the  most 
profound  obscurity  succeeded  to  the  dazzling  radi- 
ance. Flashes  of  lightning,  at  intervals,  broke 
forth  with  extreme  brilliancy,  only  to  make  the  dark- 
ness more  dark,  when  peal  after  peal  of  thunder 
caused  the  building  to  shake  to  its  very  foundations. 
These  were  succeeded  by  loud  cries  for  help  and 
laments  of  persons  in  great  agony;  soon  to  be  re- 
placed by  the  most  frightful  noises  and  bellowings, 
and  terrible  apparitions.  The  nerves  of  the  appli- 
cants were  tried  to  the  utmost,  and  required  to  be 
strung  by  the  most  indomitable  will  and  moral  as 
well  as  physical  courage,  to  enable  them  to  with- 
stand to  the  last  such  awful  trials. 

All  the  faint  hearted  were  invariably  rejected  and 
refused  admission  to  the  next  degree,  the  Epopteia, 
or  Inspection.  Powerful  narcotic  drugs  were  ad- 
ministered to  the  timorous,  that  plunged  them  into 
a  deathlike  sleep,  from  which  they  emerged  with 
but  confused  recollections,  if  not  entire  f orgetf ulness, 
of  the  terrible  scenes  they  had  witnessed,  and  which 
they  believed  to  be  produced  by  some  frightful 
dream  or  dreadful  nightmare. 

I  will  now  quote  from  the  book  of  Henoch.    Chap. 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  21 

xiv.  ver.  12. —  "I  saw  a  spacious  habitation  built 
with  stones  of  crystal.  The  roof  had  the  appear- 
ance of  agitating  stars  and  flashes  of  lightning. 
Flames  burnt  around  its  walls,  its  portals  blazed  with 
fire.  This  dwelling  was  hot  as  fire — cold  as  ice." 
Chap.  xvii.  ver.  1. — "  They  raised  me  up  into  a  cer- 
tain place  where  there  was  the  appearance  of  burning 
fire,  and  when  they  pleased,  they  assumed  the  like- 
ness of  men, — (ver.  3) — and  I  beheld  the  receptacles 
of  light  and  of  thunder  at  the  extremities  of  the  place. 
There  was  a  bow  of  fire  and  arrows  in  their  quiver — 
a  sword  of  fire  and  every  species  of  lightning." 

Chap.  xxi.  vers.  4. — "Then  I  passed  to  another 
terrific  place  — (ver.  5) — where  I  beheld  the  opera- 
tion of  a  great  fire  blazing  and  glittering,  in  the 
midst  of  which  there  was  a  division — columns  of 
fire  struggled  together  to  the  end  of  the  abyss  and 
deep  was  their  descent.  (Ver  6.) — This  was  the  place 
of  suffering." 

Those  who  resisted  to  the  last  the  trials  of  the 
Autopsia,  as  the  initiation  was  called,  were  then  dis- 
missed with  these  three  words  :  Kon-x  Om  Pan-x, 
which,  strange  to  say,  have  no  meaning  in  the  Greek 
language.  Captain  Wilf  ord,  in  his  Essay  on  Egypt, 
says  they  correspond  to  the  words  Cansha  Om  Pan- 
sha,  which  the  Brahmins  pronounce  every  day  to  an- 
nounce to  the  devotees  that  the  religious  ceremonies 
are  over.  They  have  been  translated,  "  retire,  0  re- 


22  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

tire,  profane  !  "  Corresponding  to  the  ite  missa  est 
of  the  Catholic  Church. 

These  words  are  not  Sanscrit,  but  Maya.  ' '  Con-ex 
OmonPanex,"  go,  stranger,  scatter  !  are  vocables,  of 
the  language  of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Yucatan, 
still  spoken  by  their  descendants,  the  aborigines 
of  that  country.  They  were  probably  used  by  the 
priests  of  the  temples,  whose  sumptuous  and  awe- 
inspiring  ruins  I  have  studied  during  fourteen  years, 
to  dismiss  the  members  of  their  mystic  societies, 
among  which  we  find  the  same  symbols  that  are 
seen  even  to-day  in  the  temples  of  Egypt  as  in  the 
M.  * .  lodges. 

I  will  endeavor  to  show  you  that  the  ancient 
sacred  mysteries,  the  origin  of  Free  Masonry  conse- 
quently, date  back  from  a  period  far  more  remote 
than  the  most  sanguine  students  of  its  history 
ever  imagined.  I  will  try  to  trace  their  origin,  step 
by  step,  to  this  continent  which  we  inhabit,  —  to 
America — from  where  Maya  colonists  transported 
their  ancient  religious  rites  and  ceremonies,  not  only 
to  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  but  to  those  of  the  Eu- 
phrates, and  the  shores  of  the  Indian  Ocean,  not  less 
than  11,500  years  ago. 

But  let  us  return  to  the  mysteries  of  Eleusis.  In 
the  trials  to  which  the  Mystai  were  subjected  to  try 
their  fitness  to  become  Ephoroi,  Masons  no  doubt 
recognize  several  of  the  ceremonies  that  took  place 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  23 

at  their  initiation  into  the  craft.  If  Free  Ma- 
sonry had  not  its  origin  in  the  ancient  Sacred  Mys- 
teries, how  could  these  rites  have  found  their  way 
into  it  2 

The  Ephoroi  were  now  prepared  for  the  third 
degree,  the  Epopteia — the  most  sacred  of  all.  In  this 
the  Epoptai  or  " Inspectors  of  themselves"  were 
placed  in  presence  of  the  gods,  who  were  supposed 
to  appear  to  the  initiated.  Proclus,  a  philosopher, 
disciple  of  the  divine  Plato,  in  his  commentaries  on 
the  Eepublic  of  his  master,  says:  "  In  all  initiations 
and  mysteries,  the  gods  exhibit  themselves  under 
many  forms,  and  appear  in  a  variety  of  shapes. 
Sometimes  their  unfigured  light  is  held  forth  to 
view.  Sometimes  this  light  appears  under  a  human 
form,  and  sometimes  it  assumes  a  different  shape." 
And  again,  in  his  commentaries  on  the  first  Alci- 
biades:  "  In  the  most  holy  of  the  mysteries,  before 
the  god  appears,  the  impulsions  of  certain  terrestrial 
demons  become  visible,  alluring  the  initiated  from 
undefiled  good  to  matter."  Then  all  the  seductions 
that  human  mind  can  imagine  to  excite  the  passions 
were  placed  within  the  grasp  of  those  who  aspired 
to  become  Epoptai.  They  were  invited  to  freely 
give  way  to  voluptuousness,  to  the  enjoyment  of  all 
kind  of  mundane  pleasures,  before  they  renounced 
them  forever.  Nothing  that  could  possibly  entice 
applicants  to  fall  from  their  state  of  moral  and  physi- 


24  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

cal  purity  was  omitted;  all  that  could  be  done  to 
induce  them  to  yield  to  temptation  was  resorted  to. 
If  in  a  moment  of  weakness  they  allowed  their 
senses  to  obtain  the  mastery  over  their  reason,  woe 
to  them  !  for  before  they  could  realize  their  position, 
before  they  had  time  to  recall  their  scattered 
thoughts,  the  bright  surroundings  disappeared  as 
by  magic;  they  were  plunged  in  the  most  dense  ob- 
scurity; the  ground  gave  way  under  their  feet;  and 
they  were  precipitated  into  a  deep  abyss,  from 
which  if  they  escaped  with  their  life,  they  never  did 
with  their  reason. 

Theon  of  Smyrna,  in  his  work  Matematica,  di- 
vides the  mysteries  into  five  parts. 

1.  The  purification. 

2.  The  reception  of  sacred  rites. 

3.  The  Epopteia,  or  reception. 

4.  End  and  design  of  the  revelation,  the  building 
of  the  head  and  fixing  of  the  crowns. 

5.  The  friendship  and  interior  communion  with 
God,  the  last  and  most  awful  of  all  the  mysteries. 

It  is  supposed  the  prophet  Ezekiel  alludes  to 
these  initiations,  when  he  speaks  of  the  abomina- 
tions committed  by  the  idolatrous  ancients  of  the 
house  of  Israel  in  the  dark,  every  man  in  the  cham- 
bers of  its  imagery. 

Here  again,  I  will  quote  from  the  book  of  Henoch: 
Chap.  xxii. — "From  thence  I  proceeded  to  another 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  25 

spot  where  I  saw  on  the  West  a  great  and  lofty 
mountain,  a  strong  rock  and  four  delightful  places. " 

Chap.  xiv.  ver.  14. — "Then  I  went  to  another 
habitation  more  spacious  than  the  former.  Every 
entrance  which  was  opened  before  me  was  erected 
in  the  midst  of  a  vibrating  flame.  Ver.  18. — Its 
floor  was  on  fire,  above  were  lightning  and  agitated 
stars,  whilst  its  roof  exhibited  a  blazing  fire.  Ver. 
21. — One  of  great  glory  sat  upon  the  orb  of  the 
brilliant  sun.  Ver.  24. — A  fire  of  great  extent  con- 
tinued to  rise  up  before  him." 

It  is  said  that  the  ordeal  through  which  the  candi- 
dates were  obliged  to  pass  previous  to  admission  into 
the  Egyptian  mysteries,  were  even  more  severe, 
and  that  Pythagoras,  wise  philosopher  as  he  was, 
had  a  narrow  escape  from  it. 

The  priests  alone  could  arrive  at  a  thorough  under- 
standing of  the  mysteries.  So  sacred  were  their 
secrets  held  that  many  of  the  members  of  the 
sacerdotal  order,  even,  were  not  admitted  to  a  par- 
ticipation of  them;  but  those  alone  who  proved 
themselves  deserving  of  the  honor;  since  Clement  of 
Alexandria,  tells  us:  "the  Egyptians  neither  en- 
trusted their  mysteries  to  every  one,  nor  degraded 
the  secrets  of  divine  matters  by  disclosing  them  to 
the  profane,  reserving  them  for  the  heir  apparent 
to  the  throne,  and  for  such  of  the  priests  as  excelled 
in  virtue  and  wisdom." 


26  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

From  all  we  can  learn  on  the  subject,  the  mys- 
teries consisted  of  two  kinds,  the  greater  and  the 
lesser,  divided  into  many  classes.  The  candidate 
for  initiation  had  to  be  pure,  his  character  without 
blemish.  He  was  commanded  to  study  such  lessons 
as  tended  to  purify  the  mind.  Great  was  the  honor 
of  ascending  to  the  greater  mysteries  and  it  was  diffi- 
cult to  attain  to  it.  An  inscription  of  a  high  priest 
at  Memphis,  says  Mr.  Samuel  Birch,  states:  "That 
he  knew  the  arrangements  of  the  Earth,  and  those 
of  Heliopolis  and  Memphis;  that  he  had  penetrated 
the  mysteries  of  every  sanctuary;  that  nothing  was 
concealed  from  him;  that  he  adored  God  and  glorified 
Him  in  all  His  works,  and  that  he  hid  in  his  breast 
all  that  he  had  seen."  Had  he  not  kept  his  secrets 
so  carefully  concealed,  no  doubt  he  would  have  told 
us  that  at  one  of  the  initiations  the  figure  of  the 
god  Osiris,  in  whose  honor  the  mysteries  were  cele- 
brated, and  whose  name  the  initiates  did  not  dare 
pronounce,  appeared  to  the  candidate,  as  it  did  at 
Heliopolis  to  Pianchi,  king  of  Ethiopia. 

At  a  later  period,  when  the  ancient  customs  had 
become  relaxed  owing  to  the  invasion  of  the  coun- 
try by  foreigners  and  to  the  government  passing 
from  the  hands  of  native  rulers  to  those  of  Persian, 
of  Greek  or  Koman  governors,  many,  besides  the 
priests,  came  to  be  admitted  to  the  lesser  mysteries. 
But  all  had  to  pass  through  the  different  grades  and 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  27 

conform  to  the  prescribed  rules,  as  in  the  case  of 
Thales,  Eumolpus,  Orpheus,  Pythagoras,  Plato, 
Herodotus  and  others. 

I  will  not  here  describe  at  length  the  initia- 
tions to  the  mysteries  in  honor  of  the  Sun  God, 
Mithra,  instituted  by  Zoroaster,  but  only  state  that 
Porphyrius,  on  the  testimony  of  Eubulus,  says  that 
this  philosopher  and  reformer  having  selected  a 
cavern  in  a  pleasant  locality  in  some  mountains 
near  Persia,  dedicated  it  to  Mithra,  the  Sun,  creator 
and  father  of  all  beings;  that  he  divided  it  into 
geometrical  figures  intended  to  represent  the  climates 
and  elements;  in  a  word  that  he  imitated  in  a  small 
way  the  order  and  disposition  of  the  universe  by 
Mithra.  After  him,  it  became  customary  to  conse- 
crate caverns  for  the  celebration  of  mysteries;  as  we 
see  yet  in  Japan. 

The  candidates  for  initiation  to  the  Mithra  mys- 
teries were  submitted  to  the  most  awful  trials— 
among  which  one  was  to  try  the  docility  and  cour- 
age of  the  applicant.  He  was  ordered  by  the  priest 
to  kill  a  man.  According  to  Plutarch,  in  his  life  of 
Pompeius,  these  mysteries  were  brought  to  the 
Occident  by  Cilician  pirates  about  sixty-eight  years 
before  the  Christian  era.  They  were  well  received 
by  the  Greco-Latin  world,  and  the  initiated  were 
soon  to  be  counted  by  thousands.  In  the  time 
of  the  Emperor  Adrian,  the  mysteries  of  Mithra  had 


28  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

become  so  popular  that  Pallas,  a  Greek  writer,  com- 
posed a  poem  on  the  subject,  that  Porphyrius  has 
preserved  in  a  special  treatise  on  the  abstinence  from 
the  use  of  animal  flesh. 

The  mysterious  initiations  vividly  impressed  the 
imagination,  as  at  times  and  by  way  of  expiation, 
human  victims  were  offered  and  immolated.  The 
ceremonies  of  the  priests  consisted,  says  Origenes, 
in  imitating  the  motions  of  the  celestial  bodies, 
those  of  the  planets,  in  fact  of  the  heavens.  The 
initiated  took  the  names  of  the  constellations  and 
dressed  themselves  as  animals.  A  theology  purely 
astronomical  was  taught  in  these  mysteries,  in 
which  they  used  the  purification  by  water  in  honor 
of  the  goddess  Ardvi  goura  andhita,  "  She  of  the 
celestial  waters;"  the  confession  of  sins;  and  a  sort 
of  eucharist,  or  offering  of  bread,  still  observed  by 
the  Parsis  or  fire  worshippers  in  India.  It  may  be 
said  that  during  the  last  years  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
the  religion  of  Mithra  had  become  the  state  religion. 
It  is  not,  therefore,  to  be  wondered  at,  if  it  extended 
to  the  Roman  provinces  of  Gaul  and  Britain,  and  if 
some  of  its  rites  have  found  their  way  into  Free 
Masonry,  and  are  practised  to  the  present  day;  thus 
again  relating  it  with  very  ancient  sacred  mysteries, 
established  by  Zoroaster,  the  author  of  the  Zend- 
Avesta  at  least  1,100  years  before  Christ,  although 
Hermippus,  the  Greek  translator  of  his  work,  places 
him  5, 000  years  before  the  taking  of  Troy. 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  29 

If  we  go  to  Hindostan,  there  we  will  learn  of  a 
secret  society  of  wise  and  learned  men,  whose  ob- 
ject is  the  study  of  philosophy  in  all  its  branches, 
but  particularly  the  spiritual  development  of  man. 
The  leading  fraternity  is  established  in  Thibet;  and 
the  high  pontiff  and  other  dignitaries  of  the  Lama 
religion  belong  to  it.  They  are  known  throughout 
India  by  the  name  of  Mahatmas  or  Brothers.  To 
obtain  this  title  it  is  necessary  to  suffer  a  long  and 
weary  probation,  and  pass  through  ordeals  of  terri- 
ble severity.  Many  of  the  Chelas,  as  the  aspirants 
are  called,  have  spent  twenty,  even  thirty  years  of 
blameless  and  arduous  devotion  to  their  task,  and 
still  they  are  in  the  earlier  degrees,  looking  forward 
to  the  happy  day  when  they  may  be  judged  worthy 
to  have  the  title  of  Brother  conferred  upon  them. 

These  Mahatmas  are  the  successors  of  those  secret 
societies  of  learned  Brahmins,  so  celebrated  for  their 
wisdom,  from  very  remote  ages,  in  India;  and  of 
whose  colleges  or  lodges,  always  built  on  the  summit 
of  high  mounds,  either  natural  or  artificial,  Alexan- 
der, the  Great,  when  he  achieved  the  conquest  of  that 
country,  was  never  able  to  take  possession.  Philo- 
stratus  informs  us,  that  their  mode  of  defense  consist- 
ed in  surrounding  themselves  with  clouds,  by  means 
of  which  they  could  at  will  render  themselves  visible 
or  not,  and  hurling  from  their  midst  tempests  and 
thunder  on  their  enemies.  Evidently  in  those  early 


30  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

times,  they  had  discovered  gunpowder,  or  some 
other  explosives  of  like  nature,  and  made  use  of 
them  to  explode  mines,  and  destroy  their  assailants. 
These  same  Brahmins  claimed  to  have  been  the 
teachers  of  the  Egyptians,  who,  according  to  that, 
would  have  received  their  civilization  and  scientific 
knowledge  from  them,  as  also  did  the  Chaldeans. 
It  is  well  known  that  the  Magi  were  strangers  who 
came  to  Babylon,  possessors,  says  the  prophet  Dan- 
iel, not  only  of  a  special  learning,  but  of  a  peculiar 
tongue.  They  formed  a  powerful  society,  into  which 
at  the  beginning  none  but  those  of  their  own  people 
were  admitted,  as  their  science  was  both  exclusive 
and  hereditary.  A  certain  religious  character  was 
attached  to  the  whole  body;  every  priest  must  be  a 
Chaldean,  but  every  Chaldean  was  not  a  priest.  They 
passed  their  whole  lives  in  meditating  questions  of 
philosophy.  Astronomy  was  their  favorite  study; 
but  they  acquired  great  reputation  for  their  astrol- 
ogy. They  were  versed  in  the  arts  of  prophesying, 
of  explaining  dreams  and  prodigies,  and  the  omens 
furnished  by  the  entrails  of  victims  offered  in  sacri- 
fice. The  parents  taught  the  children.  At  their  head 
was  a  high  pontiff  with  the  title  of  Hob-mag,  Vener- 
able, or  according  to  its  meaning  in  the  Maya  lan- 
guage, Lab-mac,  "the  old  man."  At  Babylon  they 
were  the  ruling  order,  the  advisers  of  the  King. 
Nothing  is  known  to-day  of  their  rites  of  initiation; 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  31 

but  they  must  have  been  very  similar  to  those  of 
the  Egyptians,  since  the  civilization  of  Chaldea  and 
that  of  Egypt  were  twin  sisters;  offspring  from 
the  same  parents. 

I  have  endeavored  in  a  cursory  manner  to  show 
that  the  ancient  sacred  mysteries  were  established 
for  the  same  purpose  in  every  civilized  nation  of 
antiquity,  that  is  for  the  cultivation  of  science;  the 
acquirement  of  knowledge;  the  bettering  of  man's 
moral  and  physical  nature;  the  development  of  his 
intellectual  and  mental  faculties;  the  understanding 
and  study  of  the  laws  that  govern  the  material  and 
spiritual  world,  thus  bringing  him  into  closer  con- 
tact with  Deity.  They  kept  their  learning  and  dis- 
coveries a  profound  secret,  surrounding  them  with 
mysterious  allegories,  and  enigmatical  symbols,  for, 
as  says  Strabo:  "  to  surround  the  things  that  are 
holy  with  a  mysterious  obscurity  is  to  make  Divinity 
venerable,  is  to  imitate  its  nature  that  escapes  man's 
senses, "or,  as  Gregory  of  Nazianze,  wrote  to  Jerome: 
"the  less  ignorant  men  understand  the  more  they 
admire,"  and  as  the  priests  of  to-day,  in  fact  of  all 
times,  of  all  religions,  they  wished  to  be  regarded 
by  the  masses  as  dispensers  of  the  god's  favors,  as 
mediators  between  the  Deity  and  man. 

This  similarity  of  the  rites  practiced  in  the  initia- 
tions, the  identity  of  symbols,  proves  that  these  rites 
and  symbols  had  been  communicated  from  one  to  an- 


32  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

other,  just  as  in  modern  Free  Masonry  the  initiations 
are  the  same  in  the  lodges,  the  world  over,  having 
been  carried  to  the  most  distant  lands,  by  travelers, 
colonists  or  missionaries,  from  the  fountain  head,  the 
Grand  Lodge  of  England. 

But  with  respect  to  the  ancient  Sacred  Mysteries, 
the  query  arises  as  to  where  they  originated.  We 
know  that  from  Egypt  and  Chaldea  they  were 
brought  to  Greece  and  Eome.  From  whom  did 
the  Egyptians  and  Chaldeans  receive  them  ?  The 
Brahmins  asserted  that  the  Magi  and  the  Hiero- 
phants  were  their  disciples. 

Admitting  this  assertion  to  be  true,  may  we  not 
ask,  from  whom  did  the  Brahmins  learn  them  ?  No 
doubt,  if  we  question  them  on  the  subject,  they  will 
answer  that  they  are  the  originators  of  these  mys- 
tic rites,  and  secret  societies  of  learned  men;  and 
with  difficulty  we  could  gainsay  their  assertion, 
were  it  not  that  Plutarch  and  other  Greek  writers, 
who  have  described  the  Eleusinian  mysteries,  have 
taken  care  to  preserve  the  words  used  at  the  closing 
of  the  ceremonies  by  the  officiating  priest;  and  also 
made  known  to  us  the  name  and  shape  they  gave 
to  their  place  of  meeting. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  Brahmins,  in  many  of 
their  religious  ceremonies,  make  use  of  words  that 
are  not  Sanscrit,  but  are  said  to  belong  to  a  very 
ancient  form  of  speech — now  dead — the  Akkadian, 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  33 

spoken  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  countries  situated 
along  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  near  its  mouth. 
Strange  as  it  may  appear,  this  language  presents 
many  affinities  with  the  Maya,  which  is  still  the  ver- 
nacular of  the  aborigines  of  Yucatan  and  other 
countries  south  of  the  Peninsula.  The  fact  is  that 
the  words  con-x — om — pan-x,  mean  nothing  in 
Greek,  but,  as  we  have  said,  are  pure  Maya  vocables, 
that  have  the  same  meaning  as  that  given  to  can- 
ska — om — Pansha  by  Captain  Wilford. 

That  is  not  all.  We  are  also  told  that  the  place  or 
temple  where  the  initiated  assembled  to  perform 
their  ceremonies,  had  the  form  of  a  rectangle,  I  | 
and  that  it  represented  the  "  Universe."  Modern 
Masons  have  wrongly  translated  that  idea  by  the 
Sanscrit  word  loga,  from  which  the  word  lodge  has 
been  derived,  and  the  form  of  M.  * .  lodges  adopted. 

The  shape  of  the  temples  was  that  of  the  Egyptian 
letter  M  called  "ma",  a  word  that  also  means  place, 
country  and,  by  extension,  the  Universe.  The  Egyp- 
tians adopted  it,  therefore,  not  because  they  believed, 
as  Dr.  Fanton  suggests,  that  the  earth  was  square  or 
oblong,  for  they  knew  full  well  it  was  spherical,  but 
because  the  sign  of  the  word  ma',  conveyed  to  their 
mind  the  idea  of  the  Earth,  as  the  word  earth  repre- 
sents it  to  ours.  But  ma  is  also  the  radical  of  May- 
ax;  and  likewise,  in  the  Maya  language,  it  means 
the  country,  the  Earth.  The  Mayas  selected  the 


34  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 


oblong  square  I  I  to  represent  it,  because  it  is  the 
geometrical  figure  that  is  nearest  in  shape  to  the 
contours  of  the  Yucateaii  peninsula. 

So  we  have  found  a  bridge  to  cross  the  vast  ex- 
panse of  water  that  lies  between  the  Eastern  and 
Western  Continents — a  clue  that  may  lead  us  to  the 
birth-place  of  the  ancient  sacred  mysteries  in  those 
f^  " Lands  of  the  West,"  £5  that  "Land  of 
Kui"  the  mother-land  of  the  gods  and  of  the  ances- 
tors of  the  Egyptians,  where  the  god  Osiris  reigned 
supreme  over  the  souls  emancipated  from  the  tram- 
mels of  matter. 

In  the  depths  of  the  forests  that  cover  the  soil  of 
Central  America,  He  hidden,  under  a  cloak  of  ver- 
dure, the  ruins  of  ancient  cities.  There,  are  to  be 
seen  the  crumbling,  awe-inspiring  remains  of  grand 
old  monuments;  mementos  of  the  power  and  civili- 
zation, of  the  scientific  and  intellectual  attainments 
of  the  mighty  races  that  erected  them,  and  have 
disappeared  forever  in  the  abyss  of  time. 

At  Uxmal,  one  of  these  ancient  great  metropolis 
in  Yucatan,  there  exists  an  artificial  mound  of  pecu- 
liar construction. 

The  entire  structure  measured  29  metres  (about 
95  feet)  in  height;  66  metres  (214  feet  6  inches)  in 
length  at  the  base,  and  33  metres  (107  feet  3  inches) 
in  width.  The  lower  part  is  formed  of  the  frustum 
of  an  elliptical  cone  14  metres  (45  feet  6  inches)  in 


MOSS   TYPE, 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  35 

height,  divided  into  7  gradients,  each  2  metres  high. 
On  the  upper  plane  of  the  frustum,  which  forms 
a  terrace  35  metres  long  by  10  metres  wide,  are  con- 
structed the  Sanctuary,  or  Holy  of  Holies,  facing 
west,  whose  ground  plan  is  made  in  the  shape  of  a 
cross  with  a  double  set  of  arms;  and  a  truncated 


West. 

GROUND  PLAN  OP  SANCTUARY. 


rectangular  pyramid  6  metres  high,  the  upper  plane 
of  which  supports  the  crowning  edifice  6  metres 
high,  29  metres  long  and  7  metres  wide. 

This  building  emblem  of  the  ' '  Lands  of  the  West, ' ' 
is  composed  of  three  separate  apartments  2m.  25c. 
wide,  having  originally  no  communication  with  each 
other.  Holes  have  been  bored  in  the  partition  walls 
that  have  much  weakened  the  construction ;  for 


36  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

what  purpose  it  is  difficult  to  surmise,  unless  it  be 
for  the  love  of  destruction. 

The  rooms  at  the  extremities  are  of  the  same  size, 
5m.  50c.  (about  17  feet  10  inches)  long,  while  the 
middle  chamber  is  fan.  25c.  in  length.  The  door  of 
this  chamber  faced  west,  and  led,  by  means  of  p> 
small  stair,  to  a  terrace  formed  by  the  roof  of  the 
sanctuary. 


East. 


West. 

GROUND  PLAN  OF  TEMPLE  OP  MYSTERIES. 


From  there  the  learned  priests  and  astronomers, 
elevated  above  the  mists  of  the  plains  below,  could 
without  hindrance  follow  the  course  of  the  celestial 
bodies,  in  the  clear  cloudless  skies  of  Yucatan, 
where  at  times  the  atmosphere  is  so  pure  and  trans- 
parent that  stars  are  clearly  visible  to  the  naked  eye, 
that  require  the  aid  of  the  telescope  to  be  seen  in 
other  countries. 

The  doors  of  the  other  rooms  faced  East.  The 
ceilings,  like  those  of  all  the  apartments  in  the 
monuments  of  Yucatan  and  Central  America,  form 
a  triangular  arch.  This  shape  was  adopted  by  the 
builders,  not  because  they  were  ignorant  of  how  to 
construct  circular  arches — since  they  erected  edi- 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  37 

flees  roofed  with  domes,  but  in  accordance  with 
certain  esoteric  teachings  pertaining  to  the  mysteries 
and  relating  to  the  mystic  numbers  3.5.7. 

This  kind  of  arch  is  also  found  in  the  ancient 
tombs  of  Chaldea,  at  Mughier — in  the  center  of  the 
great  pyramid  of  Ghizeh,  in  Egypt — in  the  most 
ancient  monuments  of  Greece,  as  the  treasure  room 
at  Mikene,  in  the  tombs  of  Etruria  and  other  places. 

Here,  again,  we  learn  from  the  book  of  Henoch, 
that  the  subterranean  building  that  he  constructed 
in  the  land  of  Canaan  in  the  bowels  of  the  moun- 
tain, with  the  help  of  his  son  Mathusalath,  was  in 
imitation  of  the  nine  vaults  that  were  shown  to 
him  by  the  Deity,  each  apartment  being  roofed  with 
an  arch,  the  apex  of  which  formed  a  key-stone  with 
mirific  characters  inscribed  on  it.  Each  of  the  nine 
letters,  we  are  told,  represented  one  of  the  nine 
names  traced  in  characters  emblematical  of  the  at- 
tributes of  Deity.  Henoch  then  constructed  two 
triangles  of  the  purest  gold,  and  traced  two  of  the 
mysterious  characters  on  each.  One  he  placed  in 
the  deepest  arch;  the  other  he  entrusted  to  Mathu- 
salath, to  whom  he  communicated  important  secrets. 


Thou  art  Bait  (the  soul);  thou  art  Athor,  one  of  the  Bia;  and  thou  art  Akori. 
Hail,  father  of  the  world!  hail,  triform  God! 


38  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

The  triangular  arches  appear,  therefore,  as  land- 
marks of  one  and  the  same  doctrine,  practised  in 
remote  times,  in  India,  Egypt,  Chaldea,  Greece, 
Etraria  and  Central  America. 

In  the  ceilings  of  the  rooms  situated  at  the  north 
and  south  extremities  of  the  building  are  carved  in 
peculiar  and  regular  order,  in  deep  intaglio,  semi- 
spheres,  ten  centimeters  in  diameter,  intended  to 
represent  the  stars  that  at  night  so  beautify  the 
firmament.  Inside  of  the  triangle  formed  at  each 
end  of  said  rooms  by  the  converging  lines  of  the  arch 
are  also  several  of  these  semispheres — those  in  the 
north  room  form  a  triangle  (Fig.  1);  while  those  in 


FIG.  1. 

the  south  room,  five  in  number,  figure  a  trapezium 
(Fig.  2); 'with  one  of  these  half  spheres  in  the  middle. 
The  middle  chamber  is  now  devoid  of  decorations 
of  any  sort.  Its  length,  seven  meters,  is  to-day  the 
only  vestige  which  remains  to  indicate  that  in  it,  in 
former  times,  were  practised  rites  and  ceremonies 
pertaining  to  the  third  degree  of  initiation.  This 
chamber  could  be  reached  by  walking  on  the  nar- 
'row  terrace  round  the  building;  but  I  feel  certain 
that  those  whose  privilege  it  was  to  assemble  within 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  39 

its  walls,  got  to  it  from  the  west  side.  There  was 
a  stairway  nine  metres  wide,  beautifully  orna- 
mented, leading  from  the  court  yard  adjoining  the 
priests'  palace,  to  the  entrance  of  the  sanctuary. 
Thence  another  small  stairway  2m.  40c.  wide,  sit- 
uated on  the  north  side  of  the  sanctuary,  led  to  the 
upper  terrace,  to  the  roof  of  that  monument,  and  to 
the  middle  chamber.  The  access  to-  the  north  and 
south  rooms  was  by  a  grand  stairway  of  ninety- six 
steps,  each  20cm.  high,  that  led  to  the  upper  terrace 
surrounding  the  whole  edifice.  This  stairway,  sit- 
uated on  the  east  side  of  the  mound,  is  fourteen 
metres  (45  feet  6  inches)  wide,  and,  like  that  on  the 
east  side,  so  steep  as  to  require  no  little  practice  and 
care  to  ascend  and  descend  its  narrow  steps  with 
comparative  safety  and  ease. 

A  few  centimetres  above  the  lintel  of  the  entrance 
to  the  sanctuary  is  a  cornice  that  surrounds  the 
whole  edifice.  On  it  are  sculptured  these  symbols, 


many  times  repeated.  On  the  under  part  of  this 
cornice  are  small  rings  cut  in  the  stone,  from  which 
curtains  were  suspended,  to  hide  the  Holy  of  Holies 
from  profane  gaze. 

The  exterior  of  the  monument  was  once  upon  a 


40  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

time  ornamented  with  elaborate  and  beautifully 
executed  sculptures,  which  have  now,  in  great  part, 
disappeared.  Still  those  that  adorn  the  exterior 
walls  of  the  sanctuary,  remain  as  specimens  of  the 
beautiful  handiwork  and  of  the  great  skill  of  the 
artists;  whilst  the  exquisite  architectural  proportions 
of  the  whole  edifice  bespeak  the  mathematical  and 
other  scientific  attainments  of  the  architects  who 
planned  the  building  and  superintended  its  erection. 
The  ornaments  that  cover  these  walls  are  remark- 
able in  more  than  one  sense.  They  are  not  only 
inscriptions  in  the  Maya  language,  written  in  char- 
acters identical  with,  and  having  the  same  meaning 
and  value  as  those  carved  on  the  temples  of  Egypt; 
but  among  them  are  symbols  known  to  have  be- 
longed to  the  ancient  sacred  mysteries  of  the  Egyp- 
tians, and  to  modern  Free  Masonry.  In  August 
1880,  among  the  debris,  at  the  foot  of  the  mound 
just  described,  I  found  pieces  of  what  once  had 
been  the  statue  of  a  priest. 
The  part  of  the  statue,  from 
the  waist  to  the  knee,  par- 
ticularly attracted  my  atten- 
tion. Over  his  dress  the 
personage  wore  an  apron 
with  an  extended  hand,  as 
seen  in  the  adjoining  illustra- 
tion. A  symbol  that  will  easily  be  recognized  by 
members  of  the  masonic  fraternity. 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  41 

We  must  not  forget  that  Plato  informs  us  that 
the  priests  of  Egypt  assured  Solon,  \^hen  he  visited 
them  600  years  before  the  Christian  era,  that  all 
communications  between  their  people  and  the  in- 
habitants of  the  " Lands  of  the  West"  had  been 
interrupted  for  9,000  years,  in  consequence  of  the 
great  cataclysms,  during  which,  in  one  night,  the 
large  island  of  Atlantis  disappeared,  submerged 
under  the  waves  of  the  ocean.  Are  we  not  then 
right  if  we  surmise  that  the  monuments  of  Mayax 
existed  11,500  years  ago,  and  that  mysteries,  similar 
to  those  of  Egypt,  were  celebrated  in  them  'i  To 
support  that  belief  we  have  the  symbols  already 
mentioned  as  existing  in  the  chambers,  the  con- 
struction of  the  chambers  themselves,  the  sculptures 
carved  on  the  cornice  that  surrounds  the  sanc- 
tuary, representing  cross  bones  and  skeletons,  with 
arms  and  hands  uplifted,  tokens  that  many  of  the 
Masons  again  cannot  fail  to  recognize;  besides  other 
emblems  that  I  will  endeavor  to  explain,  which 
exist  on  the  walls  of  the  residence  of  the  priests, 
an  edifice  adjoining  that  temple.  This  may  be 
considered  the  oldest  known  edifice  in  the  world 
consecrated  to  secret  rites  and  ceremonies;  and  its 
builders  the  founders  of  the  sacred  mysteries,  that 
were  transported  from  Mayax  to  India,  Chaldea, 
Egypt,  Etruria,  by  colonists  or  missionaries. 

What  the  ceremonies  of  initiation  were  among  the 


42  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

Mayas,  it  is  difficult  to  surmise  at  present,  all  their 
books,  except  four  that  still  exist,  having  been  de- 
stroyed by  the  monks  who  came  with  the  Spanish 
adventurers,  or  soon  after  the  conquest. 

But  they  must  have  been  similar  to  the  rites  of 
initiation  practiced  by  the  Quiches,  a  branch  of  the 
Maya  nation,  at  Xibalba,  a  place  in  the  heart  of  the 
mountains  of  Guatemala.  We  learn  from  the  Popol- 
Vuh,  sacred  book  of  the  Quiches,  that  the  applicants 
for  initiation  to  the  mysteries  were  made  to  cross 
two  rivers,  one  of  mud,  the  other  of  blood,  be- 
fore they  reached  the  four  roads  that  led  to  the 
place  'where  the  priests  awaited  them.  The  crossing 
of  these  rivers  was  full  of  dangers  that  were  to  be 
avoided.  Then  they  had  to  journey  along  the  four 
roads,  the  white,  the  red,  the  green  and  the  black, 
that  led  to  where  the  council,  composed  of  twelve 
veiled  priests,  and  a  wooden  statue  dressed  and  wear- 
ing ornaments  as  the  priests,  awaited  them.  When 
in  presence  of  the  council,  they  were  told  to  salute 
the  King;  and  the  wooden  statue  was  pointed  out  to 
them.  This  was  to  try  their  discernment.  Then  they 
had  to  salute  each  individual,  giving  his  name  or  title 
without  being  told;  after  which  they  were  asked  to 
sit  down  on  a  certain  seat.  If,  forgetting  the  respect 
due  to  the  august  assembly,  they  sat  as  invited, 
they  soon  had  reason  to  regret  their  want  of  good 
breeding  and  proper  preparation,  for  the  seat,  made 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  43 

of  stone,  was  burning  hot.  Having  modestly  de- 
clined the  invitation,  they  were  conducted  to  the 
"Dark  house,"  where  they  had  to  pass  the  night, 
and  submit  to  the  second  trial.  Guards  were  placed 
all  round,  to  prevent  the  candidates  from  holding 
intercourse  with  the  outer  world.  Then  a  lighted 
torch  of  pine  wood  and  a  cigar  were  given  to  each. 
These  were  not  to  be  extinguished.  Still  they  had  to 
be  returned  whole  at  sunrise,  when  the  officer  in 
charge  of  the  house  came  to  demand  them.  Woe  to 
him  who  allowed  his  torch  and  cigar  to  get  con- 
sumed !  Terrible  chastisements,  death,  even,  awaited 
him. 

Having  passed  through  this  second  trial  success- 
fully, the  third  was  to  be  suffered  in  the  "  House  of 
Spears."  There,  they  had  to  produce  four  pots  of 
certain  rare  flowers,  without  communicating  with 
any  one  outside,  or  bringing  them  at  the  time  of 
their  coming;  and  had  also  to  defend  themselves, 
during  a  whole  night,  against  the  attacks  of  the  best 
spearmen,  selected  for  the  purpose,  one  for  each 
candidate.  Coming  out  victorious  at  dawn,  they 
were  judged  worthy  of  the  fourth  trial.  This  con- 
sisted in  being  shut  for  a  whole  night  in  the  "Ice 
house,"  where  the  cold  was  intense.  They  had  to 
prevent  themselves  from  being  overcome  by  the  cold 
and  frozen  to  death. 

The  fifth  ordeal  was  not  less  terrible.    It  consisted 


44  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

in  passing  a  night  in  company  with  wild  tigers,  in 
the  "  Tiger  house,"  exposed  to  be  torn  to  pieces, 
or  devoured  alive,  by  the  ferocious  animals.  Emerg- 
ing safe  from  the  den,  they  had  to  submit  to  their 
sixth  trial  in  the  "  Fiery  house."  This  was  a  burn- 
ing furnace  where  they  had  to  remain  from  sunset 
to  sunrise.  Coming  out  unscorched,  they  were  ready 
for  the  seventh  trial,  said  to  be  the  most  severe  of 
all,  in  the  "  House  of  the  bats."  The  sacred  book 
tells  us  it  was  the  house  of  Camazotz,  the  ' '  God  of 
the  bats,"  full  of  death-dealing  weapons,  where  the 
God  himself,  coming  from  on  high,  appeared  to  the 
candidates  and  beheaded  them,  if  off  their  guard. 

Do  not  these  initiations  vividly  recall  to  mind  what 
Henoch  said  he  saw  in  his  visions?  That  blazing 
house  of  crystal,  burning  hot  and  icy  cold — that 
place  where  were  the  bow  of  fire,  the  quiver  of 
arrows,  the  sword  of  fire — that  other  where  he  had 
to  cross  the  babbling  stream,  and  the  river  of  fire — 
and  those  extremities  of  the  Earth  full  of  all  kinds 
of  huge  beasts  and  birds — or  the  habitation  where 
appeared  one  of  great  glory  sitting  upon  the  orb  of 
the  sun — and,  lastly,  does  not  the  tamarind  tree  in 
the  midst  of  the  earth,  that  he  was  told  was  the 
Tree  of  Knowledge,  find  its  simile  in  the  calabash 
tree,  in  the  middle  of  the  road  where  those  of  Xibal- 
ba  placed  the  head  of  Hunhun  Ahpu,  after  sacrific- 
ing him  for  having  failed  to  support  the  first  trial  of 


W.    KURTZ. 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  45 


the  initiation  ?  Even  the  title  [p^  /\  (p 
Hach-mac,  "the  true,  the  very  man,"  of  the  high 
priest  in  Mayax,  that  we  see  over  the  bust  of  High 
Pontiff,  prince  Cay  Canchi,  son  of  King  Can  at  Ux- 
mal,  recalls  that  of  the  chief  of  the  Magi  at  Babylon. 
These  were  the  awful  ordeals  that  the  candidates 
for  initiation  into  the  sacred  mysteries  had  to  pass 
through  in  Xibalba.  Do  they  not  seem  an  exact 
counterpart  of  what  happened,  in  a  milder  form  at 
the  initiation  into  the  Eleusinian  mysteries  ?  and 
also  the  greater  mysteries  of  Egypt,  from  which 
these  were  copied  ?  Does  not  the  recital  of  what  the 
candidates  to  the  mysteries  in  Xibalba  were  required 
to  know,  before  being  admitted,  in  order  to  distin- 
guish the  wooden  statue  pointed  out  to  them  as  the 
King  from  the  veiled  Brothers;-  to  avoid  seating  them- 
selves on  a  burning  hot  stone  seat:  to  keep  lighted 
the  torch  and  cigar  and  prevent  them  from  being 
consumed;  to  produce  the  flowers  asked  from  them 
while  isolated  from  the  world  in  a  guarded  chamber; 
to  defend  themselves  from  the  attacks  of  dexterous 
spearmen;  to  protect  themselves  against  the  intense 
cold  of  the  "  Ice  house;"  to  remain  unhurt  amidst 
wild  tigers;  or  unscorched  in  the  middle  of  a  burn- 
ing furnace  ;  recall  to  mind  the  wonderful  similar 
feats  said  to  be  performed  by  the  Makatmas,  the 
Brothers  in  India,  and  of  several  of  the  passages 
of  the  book  of  Daniel,  who  had  been  initiated  to  the 


46  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

mysteries  of  the  Chaldeans  or  Magi  which,  accord- 
ing to  Eubulus  were  divided  into  three  classes  or 
genera,  the  highest  being  the  most  learned  ? 

Will  it  be  said  that  the  mysteries  were  imported 
from  Egypt  or  Chaldea  or  India,  or  Phoenicia  to 
America  ?  Then  I  will  ask  when  ?  By  whom  ?  What 
facts  can  be  adduced  to  sustain  such  assertion  ?  Why 
should  the  words  with  which  the  priest  at  the  con- 
clusion of  the  ceremonies  in  the  Eleusinian  mysteries, 
and  the  Brahmins  at  the  end  of  their  religious  cere- 
monies, dismiss  the  assistants,  be  Maya  instead  of 
Greek  or  Sanscrit  words  ?  Is  it  not  probable  that 
the  dismissal  continued  to  be  uttered  in  the  language 
of  those  who  first  instituted  and  taught  the  cere- 
monies and  rites  of  the  mysteries  to  the  others  ? 
That  sacred  mysteries  have  existed  in  America  from 
times  immemorial,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  Even 
setting  aside  the  proofs  of  their  existence,  that  we 
gather  from  the  monuments  of  Uxmal,  and  the 
description  of  the  trials  of  initiation  related  in  the 
sacred  book  of  the  Quiches,  we  find  vestiges  of  them 
in  various  other  countries  of  the  Western  Continent. 

Garcilasso  de  la  Vega  informs  us  that  in  Peru,  it 
was  illicit  for  any  one  not  belonging  to  the  nobility 
to  acquire  learning.  There  again,  as  in  Egypt,  in 
Chaldea,  Etruria,  India,  Mayax ,  science  was  the 
privilege  of  the  priests  and  kings.  The  sacerdotal 
class  held  the  pre-eminence.  Sacerdotal  orders  were 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  47 

conferred  only  upon  young  men  who  had  given 
proofs  of  sufficiency  for  such  important  office; 
and  before  they  could  be  received  into  the  Society 
of  the  Amautas  or  wise  men,  which  was  considered 
a  great  honor,  they  had  to  submit  to  very  severe 
ordeals.  The  rites  and  ceremonies  of  initiation  were 
imported  in  Peru  by  the  ancestors  of  Manco  Capac, 
the  founder  of  the  Inca  dynasty,  who  were  colonists 
from  Central  America,  as  we  learn  from  an  unpub- 
lished MS.,  written  by  a  Jesuit  father,  Eev.  Anello 
Oliva,  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  1631,  in  Lima; 
and  now  in  the  library  of  the  British  Museum  in 
London.  The  name  Quichua,  of  the  general  lan- 
guage of  Peru,  points  directly  to  the  Quiches  as  the 
branch  of  the  Maya  nation  that  carried  civilization 
to  that  country. 

If  from  South  America  we  go  to  New  Mexico, 
there  we  find  the  Zunis,  and  other  Pueblo  Indians. 
Having  preserved  their  independence  by  shaking  off 
at  an  early  period  the  yoke  of  the  Spaniards,  they 
have  been  little  influenced,  if  at  all,  by  the  civiliza- 
tion of  the  Europeans,  and  live  to-day  as  their  ances- 
tors did  many  centuries  back;  preserving  with  great 
care,  not  only  the  purity  of  their  language,  which 
they  teach  their  children  to  speak  correctly,  but  their 
customs,  tradition^,  and  ancient  religious  rites  and 
observances. 

Mr.  Frank  Gushing,  who  was  commissioned  by 


48  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

the  Smithsonian  Institution,  at  Washington,  to 
make  a  study  of  their  customs  and  manners,  has 
been  adopted  by  the  tribe,  and  has  now  become  one 
of  their  most  influential  chiefs.  Among  the  many 
interesting  things  discovered  by  him,  not  the  least 
is  the  existence  of  twelve  sacred  orders,  with  their 
priests,  their  initiations,  their  sacred  rites,  as 
carefully  guarded  as  the  secrets  of  the  ancient 
sacred  mysteries  to  which  they  bear  great  re- 
semblance. He  has  been  initiated  into  many  of 
them,  having  had  to  submit  to  ordeals  almost 
as  severe  as  those  of  Xibalba  from  which  no 
doubt  they  are  derived,  having  been  brought  among 
them  by  Maya  colonists  and  afterward  Nahualt 
invaders.  The  Nahualts  invaded  and  for  a  long 
time  held  sway  over  Mexico  and  some  of  the 
northern  portions  of  Central  America.  The  abori- 
gines of  those  countries  at  last  expelled  them  from 
their  territories,  when  they  scattered  in  all  directions, 
about  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era.  Some 
reached  as  far  north  as  the  gulf  of  California  and 
Arizona.  The  Yaqui  Indians,  neighbors  of  the 
Mayos,  and  who  inhabit  the  countries  watered  by 
the  rivers  Yaqui  and  Mayo  in  Sonora,  are  descen- 
dants of  a  Nahualt  tribe,  from  which  in  all  proba- 
bility, the  adjoining  nations,  the  inhabitants  of  the 
seven  cities  of  Cibola,  the  Zufiis  among  them,  learned 
many  of  their  religious  practices;  and  the  institution 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  49 

of  the  twelve  sacred  orders,  that  recall  the  twelve 
priests  who  presided  at  the  initiation  into  the  sacred 
mysteries  at  Xibalba. 

Seeking  for  the  origin  of  the  institution  of  the 
sacred  mysteries,  of  which  Masonry  seems  to  be  the 
great-grandchild ,  following  their  vestiges  from  coun- 
try to  country,  we  have  been  brought  over  the  vast 
expanse  of  the  blue  sea,  to  this  western  continent, 
to  these  mysterious  "Lands  of  the  West"  where 
the  souls  of  all  good  men,  the  Egyptians  believed, 
dwelt  among  the  blessed.  It  is,  therefore,  in  that 
country,  where  Osiris  was  said  to  reign  supreme,  that 
we  may  expect  to  find  the  true  signification  of  the 
symbols  held  sacred  by  the  initiates  in  all  countries, 
in  all  times,  and  which  have  reached  us,  through 
the  long  vista  of  ages,  still  surrounded  by  the  veil, 
well-nigh  impenetrable,  of  mystery  woven  round 
them  by  their  inventors.  My  long  researches  among 
the  ruins  of  the  ancient  temples  and  palaces  of  the 
Mayas,  have  been  rewarded  by  learning  at  the  foun- 
tain-head the  esoteric  meaning  of  some  at  least  of 
the  symbols,  the  interpretation  of  which  has  puz- 
zled many  a  wise  head — the  origin  of  the  mystifi- 
cation and  symbolism  of  the  numbers  3,  5,  and  7. 

Whoever  has  read  history  knows  that  in  all 
nations,  civilized  as  well  as  uncivilized,  from  the  re- 
motest antiquity,  the  priests  have  claimed  learning 
as  the  privilege  of  their  caste,  bestowed  upon  them 


50  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

by  special  favor  of  the  Killing  Spirit  of  the  universe. 
For  this  reason  they  have  zealously  kept  from  the 
gaze  of  other  men  their  intellectual  treasures,  and 
surrounded  them  with  the  veil  of  mystery.  They 
have  carefully  hid  all  their  discoveries,  scientific  or 
artistic,  under  the  cover  of  symbols,  reserving  their 
esoteric  or  secret  meaning  for  the  initiated;  giving  to 
the  people  only  such  exoteric  or  public  explanation 
of  them  as  best  suited  their  purpose.  They  put  into 
practice  the  principle,  that  "It  was  necessary  to 
keep  the  discoveries  of  the  philosophers  in  the  works 
of  art  or  nature  from  those  unworthy  of  knowing 
them,"  enunciated  by  the  erudite  and  celebrated 
English  monk  Roger  Bacon,  one  of  the  most  learned 
men  of  his  time,  who  was  confined  during  many 
years  in  a  prison  cell  by  his  ignorant  brethren  on 
account  of  his  great  erudition.  This  same  principle 
is  yet  closely  adhered  to  by  the  Brahmins,  the  Bud- 
dhist priests  of  Thibet,  the  Adepts  of  India,  and  I 
might  add  the  Jesuits  among  the  Christians,  al- 
though they  are  very  inferior  in  knowledge  to  the 
others;  the  secrecy  they  have  observed  for  centu- 
ries, and  do  still  observe,  being  their  best  guarantee 
of  power  and  honor. 

Judging  from  the  numerous  devices  and  emblems 
that  formed  the  ornamentation  of  the  temples  and 
palaces  in  the  ancient  ruined  cities  of  Yucatan,  the 
priests  of  Mayax  seem  to  have  been  as  addicted  to 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  51 

symbology  as  their  congeners  in  India,  Egypt,  Chal- 
dea  and  other  countries.  Among  these  devices  and 
symbols,  several  belong  clearly  to  their  sacred  mys- 
teries. 

The  study  of  the  relics  of  ancient  Maya  civiliza- 
tion has  made  manifest  to  my  mind  the  source  of 
many  of  the  primitive  traditions  of  mankind,  which 
have  reached  us  through  the  sacred  books  of  the 
Hindoos,  the  Chaldeans,  the  Egyptians,  and  the 
Jews.  These,  having  received  them  from  both  the 
Chaldees  and  the  Egyptians,  have  consigned  the  re- 
lation in  the  Pentateuch  a  book  long  attributed  to 
Moses,  but  now  believed  by  Matthew  Henry  and 
other  commentators,  who  pride  themselves  upon 
their  orthodoxy,  to  have  been  written  in  times  sub- 
sequent to  the  foundation  of  the  Hebrew  monarchy. 
Might  it  not  be  possible  that,  in  Mayax  also,  could 
be  found  the  origin  of  the  mystification  of  the  num- 
bers 3,  5,  and  7,  regarded  as  mystic  by  all  civilized 
nations  of  antiquity  all  over  the  earth  ? 

Surely  this  mystification  must  have  originated 
with  one  of  these  nations  and  been  carried  to  the 
others  either  by  colonists,  missionaries,  or  travelers. 
It  is  not  admissible,  or  even  presumable,  that  the 
same  idea  and  mysticism  has  been  attached  to  these 
numbers  by  all  these  different  peoples  without  being 
communicated  from  one  to  another.  Such  abstruse 
speculations  respecting  the  ontological  properties  of 


52  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

numbers  can  not  be  ascribed  to  the  first  workings 
of  the  human  mind  in  its  incipient  steps  toward  in- 
tellectual development.  In  its  awakening,  human 
intellect,  still  unable  to  comprehend  the  causes  of  the 
natural  phenomena  that  take  place,  as  everyday 
occurrences,  in  the  material  existence  of  man,  does 
not  soar  in  the  elevated  regions  of  metaphysics  or 
of  philosophical  and  abstract  theories.  Do  we  not 
see,  even  in  our  midst,  that  men  who  live  in  igno- 
rance ascribe  the  manifestations  of  the  powers  of 
nature  to  unseen,  mighty  beings,  of  whom  they  con- 
tinually stand  in  awe ;  to  whom  they  tribute  homage, 
and  address  prayers  filled  with  the  superstitious 
fears  that  these  fancies  of  their  untutored  imagina- 
tion inspire  in  them  ?  Abstract  conceptions,  numeri- 
cal combinations,  metaphysical  speculations,  philos- 
ophical hypothesis,  are  productions  of  highly  culti- 
vated intelligences,  of  minds  accustomed  to  reason 
on  causes  and  effects,  to  deduce  things  unseen  from 
things  seen. 

The  mysticism  with  which  these  numbers  have 
been  invested,  their  symbolization  in  the  sacred  mys- 
teries, must  have  had  its  origin  in  material  causes, 
palpable  to  physical  senses,  the  memory  of  which 
became  lost  in  the  course  of  ages,  altered  by  being 
transported  among  peoples  living  far  away  from 
the  nation  that  conceived  the  idea,  by  passing  from 
mouth  to  mouth,  in  the  secrecy  of  initiations,  genera- 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  53 

tion  after  generation.  The  idea  of  a  sole  and  om- 
nipotent Deity,  who  created  all  things,  seems  to  have 
been  the  universal  belief  in  early  ages,  among  all  the 
nations  that  had  reached  a  high  degree  of  civiliza- 
tion. This  was  the  doctrine  of  the  Egyptian  priests. 
They  called  the  Divine  Intelligence  Kneph,  and 
placed  him  above  and  apart  from  the  Triads. 
Damascius,  an  eclectic  philosopher,  who  taught  in 
the  schools  of  Athens,  about  the  year  526  of  the 
Christian  era,  in  his  "  Treatise' on  Principles,"  says 
that  "  they  asserted  nothing  of  the  first  principle  of 
all  things,  but  celebrated  it  as  a  thrice  unknown 
darkness,  transcending  all  intellectual  perception." 
Proclus,  platonic  philosopher,  director  of  the  school 
of  Athens  in  450  after  Christ,  says:  "  the  Demiurgos 
or  Creator  is  triple,  and  the  three  intellects  are  the 
three  kings,  he  who  exists,  he  who  possesses,  he 
who  beholds.  These  three  intellects,  therefore,  he 
supposes  to  be  the  Demiurge;  the  same  as  the  three 
Icings  of  Plato,  and  as  the  three  whom  Orpheus  cele- 
brates under  the  names  of  Phsenes,  Ouranos,  and 
Kronos,  kings  of  the  great  "  Saturnian  continent," 
in  the  Atlantic  ocean. 

In  Chaldea,  the  twin  sister  of  Egypt,  daughter  of 
Poseidon,  king  of  the  "  Lands  beyond  the  sea  "  and 
Lybia,  we  find  that  notwithstanding  the  apparent 
polytheistic  character  which,  from  the  earliest  times, 
religion  had  assumed,  it  was  possible  for  the  priests 


54  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

and  learned  men,  if  we  give  credence  to  Pythagoras, 
Democritus,  and  other  philosophers,  to  account  by 
esoteric  explanation  for  the  multiplicity  of  their 
gods,  resolving  them  into  the  powers  of  nature,  thus 
reconciling  the  whole  scheme  with  monotheism. 
In  fact,  above  and  apart  from  the  personages  which 
peopled  their  Pantheon  and  were  reverenced  with 
equal  respect  by  kings  and  people,  they  recognized 
a  superior  deity,  EA,  so  far  removed  from  their  first 
triad,  that  they  did  not  know  how  to  worship  it. 
The  meaning  of  the  name  EA  seems  to  have  been 
unknown  to  the  historians.  They  only  assert  that 
it  means  God  emphatically;  but  its  origin  still  re- 
mains a  mystery.  In  Egypt  they  gave  that  name 
to  the  "  Sun  "  particularly,  as  the  fount  of  all  things, 
the  life-giver  and  sustainer  of  all  that  exists  on 
earth.  LA,  in  the  Maya  language,  means  "that 
which  has  existed  forever.  The  eternal  truth." 

So  it  is  evident  that  the  ancient  Chaldeans  recog- 
nized a  supreme  being,  a  divine  essence,  Ra,  to  which 
the  Triads  were  subordinate. 

The  same  conceptions  about  Deity  existed  in  India 
from  the  remotest  antiquity.  H.  T.  Colebrooke,  in 
his  notice  on  "the  Sacred  Books  of  the  Hindoos" 
says:  "In  the  last  part  of  the  Niroukta,  dedicated 
exclusively  to  the  divinities,  it  is  thrice  affirmed  that 
there  are  only  three  gods;  and  that  these  three  gods 
designate  one  sole  deity.  The  gods  are  three  only, 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  55 

whose  mansions  are  the  Earth,  the  intermediate  re- 
gions and  heavens;  that  is  the  fire,  the  air,  and  the 
sun;  but  Pradjapati,  the  Lord  of  all  creatures,  is 
their  collective  God.  In  fact  there  is  but  one  God, 
the  " great  Soul"  Maha-atma.  It  is  called  the 
"  SUN,"  because  the  sun  is  the  soul  of  all  beings,  of 
all  that  moves,  and  of  all  that  does  not  move.  The 
other  gods  are  only  parts  or  fractions  of  his  person. 
The  belief  in  a  Triune  God  has  also  existed  from  very 
early  ages  among  the  Chinese  philosophers.  Lo-pi,  a 
Chinese  writer,  who  flourished  toward  the  eleventh 
century  of  the  Christian  era,  during  the  Songs  dy- 
nasty, explaining  certain  passages  of  the  Hi-Tse, 
says:  That  the  "  Great  Term;"  is  "  the  Great  Unit  " 
and  the  great  Y.  That  the  Y  has  neither  body  or 
shape.  That  all  that  has  body  and  shape  was  made 
by  that  which  has  no  body  or  shape.  Tradition  re- 
counts that  the  "  Great  Term  "  or  the  "  6reat  Unit " 
comprehends  three;  that  one  is  three  and  three  are 
one. 

Hiu-Chin,  who  lived  under  the  dynasty  of  the 
Hans,  is  the  author  of  a  Chinese  dictionary  called 
Choueven  in  which  he  has  preserved  many  ancient 
traditions.  He  wrote  about  the  beginning  of  the 
Christian  era.  Explaining  the  character  Y  he  says: 
In  the  first  beginning  reason  subsisted  in  unity. 
Reason  made  and  divided  Heaven  and  Earth;  con- 
verted and  perfected  all  things.  And  Tao-Tse,  a  con- 


56  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

temporary  of  Confucius,  who  wrote  the  Tao-te-King, 
a  book  reputed  very  profound,  said  more  than  five 
hundred  years  before  Christ :  ' '  That  reason,  Tao, 
produced  one.  That  one  produced  two,  that  both 
produced  three;  and  that  three  had  produced  all 
things."  All  early  writers  who  have  given  an  ac- 
count of  the  religion  of  the  ancient  Peruvians,  tell 
us  that  they  worshiped  a  mighty  unseen  being  who 
they  believed  had  created  all  things,  for  which  rea- 
son they  called  him  Pacha-camac.  He,  being  incom- 
prehensible, they  did  not  represent  under  any  shape 
or  figure,  although  they  raised  a  magnificent  temple 
in  his  honor  on  the  sea  coast  that  rivaled  in  wealth 
and  splendor  those  dedicated  to  the  Sun  at  Titicaca 
and  Cuzco.  We  are  also  informed  that  He  stood  at 
the  head  of  a  trinity  composed  of  Himself — Pacha- 
camac — Con — and  Uiracocha. 

In  this  conception  of  a  Supreme  Being,  Creator  of 
all  things,  we  see  reflected  the  teachings  of  the  Popol- 
vuh,  Sacred  book  of  the  Quiches,  in  which  we  read, 
6  i  that  all  that  exists  is  the  work  of  Tzakol — the  Crea- 
tor— who  by  his  will  caused  the  Universe  to  spring 
into  existence,  and  whose  names  are  Bitol — the 
maker — Alom — the  engenderer — Qaholom  — He  who 
gives  being. 

The  fact  that  the  same  doctrine  of  a  Supreme 
Deity  composed  of  three  parts  distinct  from  each 
other,  yet  forming  one,  was  universally  prevalent 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  57 

among  the  civilized  nations  of  America,  Asia  and 
the  Egyptians,  naturally  leads  to  the  inference  that 
at  some  time  or  other,  communications  and  rela- 
tions more  or  less  intimate  have  existed  between 
them.  They  must,  then,  have  imparted  their  tra- 
ditions, metaphysical  speculations,  and  intellectual 
attainments  one  to  another. 

In  fact,  all  historians  agree  with  Philostratus  * 
and  admit  that  commercial  intercourse  did  exist  be- 
tween Egypt  and  India.  Nay  more,  Eusebius  asserts 
that  in  the  reign  of  Memnon,  king  of  Ethiopia,  a 
body  of  Ethiopians  from  the  countries  about  the 
Indus  river  migrated  and  settled  in  the  valley  of  the 
Nile.  And  the  many  Chinese  bottles,  with  inscrip- 
tions in  that  language,  found  in  the  tombs  of  Thebes, 
prove,  beyond  the  least  doubt,  that  communications 
have  existed  between  the  inhabitants  of  China  and 
the  Egyptians  in  times  very  remote,  as  is  conject- 
ured from  the  inferior  quality  of  the  bottles,  that 
some  seem  to  believe  were  manufactured  before  the 
art  of  making  objects  of  porcelain  reached  the  high 
degree  of  perfection  to  which  it  attained  afterward. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  vase  with  Chinese  inscrip- 
tions found  by  Dr.  Schliemaiin  in  the  lowest  stratum 
of  his  excavations  at  Hissarlik,  inscriptions  that  were 
partly  deciphered  by  the  eminent  indianist  Mr.  Emile 
Burnouf  and  afterward  thoroughly  interpreted  by 
the  great  Chinese  scholar  Fi-Fangpao,  when  am- 


58  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

bassador  at  Berlin,  and  proved  to  mention  the 
fact  of  the  vase  having  contained  samples  of  Chinese 
gauze,  shows  that  active  commercial  intercourse  was 
carried  on  by  the  Chinese  with  Greece  and  Asia 
Minor  even  before  the  siege  of  Troy. 

These  conceptions  concerning  the  Triune  God 
have  come  down  through  the  vista  of  ages,  to  the 
present  day,  preserved  in  the  works  of  the  philoso- 
phers, and  are  still  held  sacred  by  many  among 
Christians  and  Brahmins.  But  we  do  not  learn  from 
their  sacred  books  where,  when  or  how  said  doctrine 
originated.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  source 
from  which  it  sprang,  it  is  certain  that  the  priests 
and  learned  men  of  Egypt,  Chaldea,  India,  or  China, 
if  they  still  knew  the  true  history  of  its  origin  at 
the  time  they  wrote,  kept  it  a  profound  secret,  and 
imparted  it  only  to  a  few  select  among  those  initiated 
in  the  sacred  mysteries. 

We  need  not  seek  for  information  among  the 
fathers  of  the  Christian  Church,  for  they  are  as  silent 
as  the  tomb  on  the  subject.  They  admitted  into 
their  tenets  the  notion  of  a  Triune  God  as  taught  by 
the  pagan  philosophers,  and  appropriated  it,  as  they 
have  many  other  of  their  teachings  and  theories, 
without  knowing,  without  inquiring,  concerning 
their  origin.  The  councils  pronounced  them  revela- 
tions from  on  high;  unfathomable  mysteries  not  to 
be  investigated;  and  imposed  them  as  dogmas,  to  be 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  59 

implicitly  believed,  with  blind  faith,  as  they  are 
to-day,  by  the  followers  of  the  Eomish  Church. 
Through  their  adherents  the  idea  of  the  three  per- 
sons in  the  Godhead  has  found  its  way  into  Free 
Masonry,  and  on  the  columns  that  adorn  the  temple, 
in  the  working  of  one  of  the  degrees,  we  read  these 
inscriptions :  "  In  the  name  of  the  holy  and  indivisi- 
ble Trinity;"  and  further  down,  "We  have  the 
happiness  to  dwell  in  the  pacific  unity  of  the  sacred 
numbers. 

To  those  initiated  to  the  lesser  mysteries  the  doc- 
trine was  presented  under  the  garb  of  the  compli- 
cated metaphysical  speculations  with  which  it  has 
reached  us.  Such  explanations  of  the  symbolical  na- 
ture of  the  mystic  numbers  were  given  to  them  so  as 
to  make  it  well-nigh  impossible  to  obtain  a  fair  under- 
standing of  their  purport.  By  the  perusal  of  the 
extracts  just  quoted  it  is  easy  to  see  that  all  the 
reasonings  concerning  the  mystic  value  of  number  3 
and  its  relations  to  a  Supreme  Deity  are  mere 
fancies  of  the  imagination,  vague  speculations, 
fallacious  cavils;  meaningless  for  practical  and  in- 
quiring minds.  So  far  as  explaining  the  nature  of 
the  Deity  all  philosophers  agree  in  admitting  that 
it  transcends  the  intelligence  of  man  since  man 
is  finite;  and  what  is  finite  will  never  be  able  to 
comprehend  that  which  is  infinite. 

Some  of  the  Greek  philosophers  reflected  in  their 


60  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

teachings,  as  well  as  in  their  writings,  the  doctrines 
they  had  learned  from  their  teachers,  the  priests 
of  Heliopolis,  Memphis  and  Thebes.  From  them 
we  may  gather  a  glimmer  of  dim  light  pointing 
toward  the  origin  of  the  symbolization  of  the  num- 
bers. We  have  said  that  Proclus  asserts  that  the 
three  component  parts  of  the  triple  deity  were  three 
intellects  or  three  Kings — a  fact  corroborated  by 
Plato,  who  also  had  been  admitted  to  the  mysteries, 
and  by  Orpheus,  who  celebrated  these  three  Kingsj 
in  the  ceremonies  instituted  by  him,  that  Herodotus 
says  were  identical  with  the  Egyptian  mysteries. 

Pythagoras,  who  had  received  his  knowledge  of 
the  numbers  and  their  meaning  from  the  Egyptians, 
taught  his  disciples  that  God  was  number  and  har- 
mony. He  caused  them  to  honor  numbers  and 
geometrical  diagrams  with  the  names  of  the  gods. 
The  Egyptians  likened  nature  to  the  equilateral  tri- 
angle, the  most  perfect  and  beautiful  of  all  triangles; 
and  according  to  Servius,  assigned  the  perfect  num- 
ber 3  to  the  great  God. 

The  Chaldees  symbolized  the  Eusoph  or  great  light, 
by  an  equilateral  triangle;  and  in  the  Sri-Santara  or 
cosmogonical  diagram  of  the  Hindoos,  which  has 
served  as  model  for  many  of  their  temples,  the  name- 
less, the  great  Aum  that  dwells  in  the  infinite,  is  fig- 
ured as  an  equilateral  triangle.  The  Egyptians  held 
the  equilateral  triangle  as  the  symbol  of  "  Nature  " 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  61 

beautiful  and  fruitful.  In  the  hieroglyphs  it  was 
the  emblem  of  worship.  We  see,  over  the  main 
altar,  in  all  the  ancient  Catholic  churches,  the  repre- 
sentation of  an  equilateral  triangle  containing  the 
all-seeing  eye  of  Osiris,  as  symbol  of  Deity.  The 
same  emblem  is  familiar  also  to  those  who  visit 
masonic  lodges  as  one  under  which  is  figured  the 
61  Great  Architect  of  the  Universe." 

If  from  those  countries  that  we  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  consider  as  the  "  Old  World,"  and  guided 
by  the  three  words  of  dismissal  used  by  the  Brah- 
mins, and  the  officiating  priests  of  Eleusis,  at  the 
closing  of  their  religious  ceremonies,  words  we  have 
shown  to  belong  to  the  Maya  language,  we  carry 
our  inquiries  into  the  "Lands  of  the  West,"  there 
again  we  will  find  that  the  triangle  was  also  sym- 
bolical among  the  Mayas  and  their  neighbors. 

We  see  it  in  the  position  of  the  three  semispheres 
carved,  as  already  said,  at  each  end  of  the  north- 
ern chamber  of  the  building  above  the  sanctu- 
ary at  Uxmal.  We  next  meet  with  it  in  the  tri- 
angular arches  that  form  the  ceilings  of  the  apart- 
ments in  all  the  temples  and  palaces,  in  fact  in  all 
the  edifices  of  Mayax,  as  well  as  in  those  of  Palenque 
and  other  localities  of  Central  America. 

The  general  plan  of  these  edifices  is  the  same 
everywhere;  not  because  they  were  built  by  the 
same  architects,  or  at  the  same  period,  but  because 


62  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

their  construction  was  in  accordance  with  certain 
teachings  pertaining  to  the  mysteries.  In  all  the 
buildings,  whatever  their  size,  the  ground  plan  was 
in  the  shape  of  an  oblong  square  i  L  that  is  of 
their  letter  M,  pronounced  Ma.  Ma  is  the  contrac- 
tion of  Mam,  the  ancestor,  as  they  denominated  the 
Earth,  and  by  extension  the  Universe.  Ma  is  also 
the  radical  of  Ma-yax,  the  name  of  the  Yucatecan 
peninsula,  in  ancient  times,  whose  shape,  no  doubt, 
suggested  that  of  the  letter  If,  both  to  the  Mayas 
and  to  the  Egyptians.  In  fact,  in  Egypt  and  in 
Mayax,  the  figure  i  i  in  the  hieroglyphs,  stands 
for  Earth  and  Universe.  It  will  be  noticed  by  ex- 
amining their  plans,  that  this  was  also  the  shape 
of  the  apartments  in  the  temples  and  palaces  of 
Chaldea,  of  Egypt  and  Greece;  that  of  the  tombs  of 
the  Etruscans;  hence,  no  doubt,  was  assigned  to 
the  masonic  lodges  in  our  days. 

The  triangular  ceiling  in  those  countries,  and 
there,  is  no  reason  for  doubting  that  it  was  the  same 
in  the  "  Lands  of  the  West,"  was  symbolical  of  the 
Triune  God,  the  Euling  Spirit  of  the  Universe,  sup- 
posed to  reside  in  the  heavens,  above  all  things. 
(This  accounts  for  the  constellations  of  the  firma- 
ment being  represented  on  the  ceilings). 

According  to  Zoroaster,  He  is  the  fire,  the  sun,  the 
light;  that  the  later  Platonists  have  described  as 
power,  intellect,  soul,  or  spirit;  and  the  ancient 


MOSS  TYPE. 


MOSS    ENQ.    CO.,    N.  Y. 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  63 

theologians,  who  invoked  the  sun  in  their  mysteries, 
according  to  Macrobius,  as  power  of  the  world, 
light  of  the  world,  spirit  of  the  world;  that  Plutarch 
gives  as  intelligence,  matter,  kosmos,  beauty,  order, 
the  world;  of  these  three  he  says,  "  universal  nature 
may  be  considered  to  be  made  up,  and  there  is  rea- 
son to  conclude  that  the  Egyptians  were  wont  to 
liken  this  nature  to  what  they  called  the  most  beau- 
tiful and  perfect  triangle. " 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  geometrical  figure 
formed  at  the  ends  of  each  of  these  apartments,  by 
the  lines  of  the  ceilings,  sides,  and  floor,  is  a  penta- 
gon, symbol  of  the  mystic  number  5  whose 
name,  pent  a,  in  Greek  also  conveys  the  idea 
of  Universe;  whilst  Ho  in  Maya,  meaning  5, 
is  also  the  radical  of  Hool,  the  head,  hence 
the  Deity. 

Then,  lastly,  the  number  of  planes  forming  the 
rooms — the  two  of  the  ceilings,  the  two  of  the  sides, 
the  two  of  the  ends,  and  that  of  the  floor — seven 
in  all,  shows  conclusively  not  only  why  the  builders 
adopted  the  triangular  arch  instead  of  the  circular, 
but  also  that  the  plan  of  their  buildings  was  con- 
ceived in  strict  adherence  to  the  mystic  numbers  3, 
5,  7,  or  their  multiples,  as  we  see  by  the  height  of 
the  pyramids;  the  number  of  courses  of  the  stones 
forming  the  walls;  that  of  the  terraces  on  which  the 
temples  stood;  that  of  the  degrees  of  the  stairs  by 
which  they  were  reached. 


64  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

Only  two  edifices  of  different  construction  have 
been  found  among  the  ancient  cities  of  the  Mayas. 
One,  now  completely  ruined,  having  been  shat- 
tered by  a  thunderbolt  in  1848,  was  in  Mayapan. 
That  place  was  destroyed,  according  to  Bishop 
Landa,  in  the  year  1446  of  the  Christian  era,  by  the 
lords  and  nobles  of  the  country,  to  put  an  end  to  the 
dynasty  of  the  Cocomes  that  governed  with  tyran- 
nical rule.  The  other,  still  standing,  although  much 
injured  by  the  action  of  time  and  vegetation,  is  to 
be  seen  in  the  most  ancient  city  of  Chichen.  These 
buildings  were  consecrated  to  the  study  of  astrono- 
my; no  doubt  also  to  the  performance  of  certain 
religious  ceremonies  connected  with  the  worship  of 
the  sun,  moon,  and  other  celestial  bodies.  They 
were  circular;  their  ground  plan  formed  three  con- 
centric circles  representing  the  Zodiac,  and  their 
vertical  section,  in  its  general  outlines,  conveys  to 
the  mind  that,  in  their  inward  or  esoteric  construc- 
tion placed  before  the  eyes  of  the  masses  yet  hidden 
from  them,  the  architect  wished  to  represent  the 
figure  of  the  mastodon,  wnich  was  venerated  by  the 
people  as  image  of  Deity  on  Earth — probably  because 
this  pachyderm  was  the  largest  and  most  powerful 
creature  that  lived  in  the  land. 

Among  the  ornaments  which  beautified  one  of 
the  seven  turrets  that  adorned  the  south  facade  of 
the  north  wing  of  the  ancient  palace  of  King  CAN, 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  65 

and  were  dedicated  to  each  of  the  seven  members 
composing  his  family,  on  that  set  apart  to  com- 
memorate the  name  of  his  eldest  son  Cay  (Fish),  the 
high  pontiff,  are  seen  these  symbols: 


FIG.  1.  FIG.  2. 

My  knowledge  of  the  symbols  and  sacred  charac- 
ters used  by  the  learned  priests  of  Mayax,  in  the 
mural  inscriptions  and  ornaments  of  their  temples 
and  palaces,  enables  me  to  understand  their  exoteric 
meaning.  The  first  (Fig.  1)  is  composed  of  an  equi- 
lateral triangle  with  the  apex  downward;  through 
it  passes  a  ribbon  tied  in  a  knot.  The  triangle  seems 
here  to  represent  the  whole  country,  the  "  Lands  of 
the  West,"  composed  of  three  great  continents, 
" North  and  South  America "  of  to-day,  and  "the 
great  island,"  called  Atlantis  by  Plato,  that  disap- 
peared in  the  midst  of  an  awful  cataclysm,  under 
the  waves  of  the  ocean,  as  described  by  the  author 
of  the  Troano  MS.,  who  thus  confirms  the  account 
of  it  given  by  the  priests  of  Egypt,  to  Solon. 

The  ribbon    tied  in  a  knot  would  indicate  that 
5 


66  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

the  initiates,  to  whom  the  esoteric  explanation 
of  the  symbol  had  been  imparted,  were  bound  to 
each  other,  to  secrecy  and  to  their  oath.  Its 
hidden  meaning  may  have  been  that  the  equi- 
lateral triangle  represented  Deity  ever  watchful, 
always  creating — Nature  in  which  we  move,  and  live 
and  have  our  being,  in  which  all  things  are  bound. 

The  second  emblem  (Fig.  2)  seems  to  have  belonged 
more  particularly  to  the  highest  degree  of  the  sacred 
mysteries,  since  we  find  it  among  other  symbols 
sculptured  on  the  slabs  that  formed  the  external 
casing  of  the  mausoleum  raised  to  the  memory  of 
the  high  pontiff  Cay.  This  second  emblem  is  also  a 
ribbon,  tied  up  so  as  to  form  three  loops,  each  oc- 
cupying one  angle  of  an  oblong  square,  image  of 
the  Universe;  the  fourth  angle  being  adorned  with 
fiat  folds,  that  are  emblematic  of  Mayax  the  seat  or 
head  of  the  government,  so  arranged  as  to  form  the 
steps — 5  in  number — of  a  throne.  This  accounts  for 
their  being  placed  at  the  upper  angle.  The  three 
round  loops  are  symbolical  of  the  three  great  parts 
composing  the  "  Lands  of  the  West,"  that  the  Greek 
mythologists  figured  by  the  trident  of  Poseidon, 
their  god  of  the  sea.  As  to  the  sign  O,  in  Mayax 
as  in  Egypt,  it  was  meant  to  represent  the  sun. 
It  was  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  square  simply  to 
signify  that  as  the  sun  was  the  centre  of  the  uni- 
verse, the  vivifying  soul  of  all  things,  so  his  repre- 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  67 

sentative  the  "  Child  of  the  Sun,"  the  high  priest, 
was  the  light  that  illumined  the  secrets  of  the  sacred 
mysteries  by  his  wisdom;  and  whose  knowledge 
made  him  the  fit  ruler  of  the  country.  0  Is  also 
the  first  letter  of  the  Maya  and  Egyptian  alphabets, 
corresponding  to  our  Latin  letter  A,  initial  of  Ah, 
maya  masculine  article,  denoting  strength,  power 
— Ah  being  likewise  the  first  syllable  of  the  word 
Ahau  King. 

We  know  as  yet  too  little  of  the  religious  tenets 
of  the  ancient  priesthood  of  Mayax,  to  venture  upon 
an  explanation.  All  we  can  assert  positively  is  that 
number  7  was  the  particular  appendage  of  the  third 
degree  of  the  mysteries.  It  was  considered  as  en- 
dowed with  great  potentiality;  was  as  Pythagoras 
says,  the  vehicle  of  life,  containing  soul  and  body. 

What  motives  may  have  induced  the  founders  of 
the  mysteries  in  Mayax  to  select  the  numbers  3,  5, 
7,  as  symbols  of  the  various  degrees  into  which  they 
divided  them,  we  can  at  present  only  surmise.  It 
is  probable  that  certain  natural  causes,  or  the  com- 
memoration of  important  events  which  had  taken 
place  in  the  life  of  the  nation,  or  in  that  of  the 
family  of  the  founders  of  the  dynasty  that  governed 
it,  suggested  their  adoption.  The  fact  is  that  the 
seven  members  of  that  family  were  collectively 
symbolized  by  the  emblem  of  the  Ah-ac-Chapat 
or  Seven  Headed  Serpent.  It  is  difficult  to  prog- 


68  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

nosticate  if  we  shall  ever  obtain  an  insight  into  the 
secret  teachings  of  the  Mayas,  even  if  we  had  access 
to  their  libraries;  for  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  they 
did  not  confide  them  to  the  papyrus  of  their  books. 

Landa,  in  his  "  Eelation  of  the  things  of  Yucatan," 
says:  "  The  sons  or  the  nearest  relatives  succeeded  to 
the  high  priest  in  his  dignity;  with  him  was  the  key 
of  their  sciences,  and  in  that  they  most  concerned 
themselves,  because  it  was  the  priests  who  gave  ad- 
vice to  the  lords  and  answered  their  queries.  .  .  . 
It  was  the  high  priest  who  nominated  the  priests  for 
cities  or  villages  which  had  none,  examined  them  as 
to  their  proficiency  in  sciences  and  ceremonies.  He 
entrusted  to  them  the  things  of  their  office,  and 
bade  them  give  good  example  to  the  people.  The 
priests  employed  themselves  in  the  service  of  the 
temple  and  in  teaching  their  divers  sciences,  par- 
ticularly how  to  write  the  books  that  contained 
them.  They  taught  the  sons  of  the  other  priests 
and  the  younger  sons  of  the  princes  who  were  sent 
to  them  in  their  childhood,  if  they  saw  them  in- 
clined for  that  profession." 

In  order  to  understand  the  explanation  of  the 
possible  origin  of  the  mystification  of  the  numbers 
3,  5,  and  7,  it  is  necessary  to  know  something  of  the 
people  among  whom  it  seems  to  have  originated. 

If  we  start  from  the  mouths  of  the  Mississippi 
River  and  travel  due  south,  across  the  Gulf  of  Mex- 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  69 

ico,  at  a  distance  of  exactly  four  hundred  and  eighty 
miles,  we  come  to  the  northern  coast  of  the  Yuca- 
tecan  Peninsula.  Its  north-easternmost  point,  Cape 
Catoche,  is  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  from 
Cape  San  Antonio,  the  western  end  of  the  island  of 
Cuba.  Yucatan  divides  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  from 
the  Caribbean  Sea.  It  is  comprised  between  the  17° 
30'  and  21°  50'  of  latitude  north,  and  the  88°  and 
91°  of  longitude  west  from  the  Greenwich  me- 
ridian. Its  length  is,  therefore,  260  miles  from 
north  to  south,  and  its  breadth  180  miles  from  east 
to  west.  The  whole  country  is  a  fossiliferous  lime- 
stone formation,  elevated  a  few  feet  only  above  the 
sea;  its  maximum  height  in  the  interior  being 
about  70  feet.  Although  its  rocky  surface,  bare  for 
the  most  part,  is,  in  places  only,  covered  with  a  few 
inches  of  tillable  loam,  formed  by  the  detritus  of  the 
stones  and  the  decomposition  of  vegetable  matter, 
its  soil  is  of  surprising  fertility. 

The  whole  country  is  now  covered  with  well-nigh 
impenetrable  forests.  A  bird's  eye  view  of  it  from 
the  top  of  one  of  the  lofty  pyramids,  that  seem  like 
light-houses  in  the  midst  of  that  ocean  of  foliage, 
impresses  the  beholder  with  the  idea  that  he  is  look- 
ing on  an  immense  sea  of  verdure  having  for  boun- 
dary the  horizon,  and  whose  billows  come  to  die, 
with  gentle  murmur,  at  the  foot  of  the  monument 
on  which  he  stands.  Not  a  hill,  not  a  hillock  even, 


70  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

breaks  the  monotony  of  the  landscape,  which  is  only 
relieved  by  clusters  of  palm  trees  that  loom  here 
and  there,  as  islets,  above  the  dead  green  level. 

Anciently,  this  country,  now  well  nigh  depop- 
ulated, was  thickly  peopled  by  a  highly  civilized 
nation,  if  we  are  to  judge  by  the  great  number  of 
large  cities  whose  ruins  exist  scattered  in  the  midst 
of  the  forests  throughout  the  country,  and  by  the 
stupendous  edifices,  once  upon  a  time  temples  of  the 
gods,  or  palaces  of  the  kings  and  priests,  whose 
walls  are  covered  with  inscriptions,  bas-reliefs,  and 
other  interesting  sculptures  that  equal  in  beauty  of 
design  and  masterly  execution  those  of  Egypt  and 
Babylon. 

The  author  of  the  Troano  MS. — a  very  ancient 
treatise  on  geology,  one  of  the  four  known  books 
which  escaped  destruction  at  the  hands  of  Bishop 
Landa  and  other  fanatical  Catholic  monks  who 
accompanied  the  Spanish  invaders,  when,  after  a 
struggle  of  twenty  years,  they  at  last,  in  1541,  be- 
came masters  of  the  country — tells  us  that  anciently 
the  peninsula  was  called  MAY  AX;  that  is,  the  primi- 
tive land,  the  terra  firma.  It  gave  its  name  to  the 
whole  empire  of  the  Mayas,  that  comprised  all  the 
countries  known  to-day  as  Central  America,  from 
the  isthmus  of  Darien  on  the  south,  to  that  of 
Tehuantepec  on  the  north.  The  site  of  the  govern- 
ment was  at  Uxmal;  but  the  great  emporium  of 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  71 

their  arts  and  sciences,  the  heart,  consequently,  of 
that  marvellous  civilization,  was  at  Chichen-Itza; 
that  became  a  vast  metropolis.  In  its  temples  pil- 
grims from  all  parts  came  to  worship,  and  even 
offer  their  own  persons  as  a  sacrifice  to  the  Al- 
mighty, by  throwing  themselves  into  the  sacred 
well  from  which  the  city  took  its  name.  There 
also  came  the  wise  men  from  afar,  to  consult  the 
H-Menes,  learned  priests,  whose  college  still  exists. 
Among  these  foreigners,  were  bearded  men  whose 
features  vividly  recall  those  of  the  Assyrians  of  old, 
and  the  Afghans  of  to-day. 

From  Chichen  this  great  civilization  seems  to  have 
extended  its  influence  to  the  remotest  parts  of  the 
Earth,  and  to  have  exercised  its  controlling  power 
among  far  distant  and  heterogeneous  nations.  The 
fact  is,  that  we  meet  with  the  name  Maya  in  many 
countries  of  Asia,  Africa,  Europe,  as  well  as  of 
America,  and  always  with  the  meaning  of  wisdom 
and  power  attached  to  it.  Wherever  we  find  it, 
there  also  are  found  vestiges  of  the  language,  of  the 
customs,  of  the  religion,  of  the  cosmogonical  and 
historical  traditions  of  the  people  of  Mayax.  Many 
of  these  traditions  have  been  recorded  in  the  sacred 
books  of  various  nations  and  have  come  to  be 
regarded  as  the  primitive  history  of  mankind.  To 
quote  a  few  instances.  The  creation  of  the  world, 
according  to  their  conceptions,  is  sculptured,  and 


72  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

forms  an  interesting  tableau  over  the  door- way,  on 
the  east  fagade  of  the  palace  at  Chichen-Itza. 

It  might  serve  as  illustration  for  the  relation  of 
the  creation,  as  we  read  of  it  at  the  beginning  of 
the  first  chapter  of  the  Manava  Dharma  Sastra,  or 
ordinances  of  Menu;  a  book  compiled,  says  the 
celebrated  indianist,  H.  T.  Colebrooke,  about  1300 
years  before  the  Christian  era,  and  from  other  and 
more  ancient  works  of  the  Brahmins.  Said  relation 
completed,  however,  by  the  narrative  of  the  myth 
according  to  the  Egyptians  as  told  by  Eusebius  in 
his  work  Evangelical  Preparations. 

Effectively,  in  the  tableau  we  see  represented  a 
luminous  egg,  emitting  rays,  and  floating  in  the 
midst  of  the  waters  where  it  had  been  deposited  by 
the  Supreme  Intelligence.  In  that  egg  is  seated  the 
Creator,  his  body  painted  blue,  his  loins  surrounded 
by  a  girdle;  he  holds  a  sceptre  in  his  left  hand;  his 
head  is  adorned  with  a  plume  of  feathers;  he  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  serpent,  symbol  of  the  Universe. 

Porphyrius,  speaking  of  Jupiter,  the  Creator  in 
the  Orphic  mysteries,  says,  "the  philosophers,  that 
is  the  initiated,  represented  him  as  a  man,  seated, 
alluding  to  his  immutable  essence ;  the  upper 
part  of  the  body  naked,  because  it  is  in  its  upper 
portions  (in  the  skies)  that  the  Universe  is  seen  most 
uncovered;  clothed  from  the  waist  below  because  the 
terrestrial  things  are  those  most  hidden  from  view. 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  73 

He  holds  a  sceptre  in  Ms  left  hand  because  the 
heart  is  on  that  side,  and  the  heart  is  the  seat  of 
understanding  that  regulates  all  the  actions  of 
man."  And  again,  "the  Egyptians  call  Kneph  the 
intelligence,  or  creative  power.  (Kneph,  or  be  it 
Kaneh,  seems  a  cognate  of  can-hel,  a  Maya  word 
the  meaning  of  which  is  serpent  (dragon) ;  they  say 
that  this  god  threw  from  his  mouth  an  egg  in 
which  was  produced  another  god  called  Phtha, 
(Thah  is  another  Maya  word,  it  means  the  worker 
—hence  the  Maker,  the  Creator);  and  Eusebius  as- 
serts, "That  they  represented  Kneph,  or  the  Effi- 
cient Cause,  as  a  man  of  a  blue  color,  with  a  girdle 
round  his  loins,  a  sceptre  in  his  hand,  a  crown  on 
Ms  head,  adorned  with  a  plume  of  feathers;  and 
that  emblematically  they  figured  him  under  the 
form  of  a  serpent." 

Will  any  one  with  common  sense  pretend  that 
these  conceptions  concerning  the  Creator,  we  find 
not  only  identical,  but  expressed  in  like  manner 
and  with  the  same  symbols,  by  the  philosophers 
of  India,  of  Egypt,  and  of  Mayax,  are  mere  coinci- 
dences ?  If  they  are  not  the  result  of  hazard,  they 
must  have  been  conceived  by  the  wise  men  of  one 
of  these  countries,  that,  no  doubt,  in  which  the 
civilization  was  the  oldest,  and  communicated  to 
others;  these,  in  turn,  taught  them  to  their  neigh- 
bors, as  we  know  the  Egyptians  did  to  the  Greeks. 


74  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

Again,  we  read  in  Genesis  that  at  a  very  early 
period  in  man's  history,  a  certain  man  murdered  his 
brother  through  jealousy.  The  victim  we  are  told 
was  named  ABEL,  his  murderer  Cain. 

No  doubt  the  writer  of  the  book  simply  re- 
peated the  story  he  had  learned  from  the  Egyptian 
priests,  concerning  the  murder  of  Osiris  (in  whose 
honor  the  mysteries  were  instituted),  by  his  brother 
Set,  through  jealousy;  making  such  alterations  in 
his  narration  as  not  to  divulge  the  secrets  he  had 
sworn  to  keep. 

If  any  of  those  initiated  to  the  higher  mysteries 
were  still  acquainted  with  the  true  history  of  the 
murder,  they  kept  it  a  profound  secret;  and  only 
gave  of  it  such  exoteric  explanations  as  best  suited 
their  purpose.  Very  little  can  be  learned  from  the 
ancient  historians.  Herodotus  always  excuses  him- 
self from  speaking  on  the  subject;  although  he  as- 
serts he  is  well  acquainted  with  what  pertained  to 
the  mysteries:  and  what  we  gather  from  the  book  of 
Plutarch,  de  Iside  et  Osiride,  is  a  version  invented 
to  satisfy  the  initiates  of  the  lower  degrees.  In  it 
Osiris  is  represented  as  having  become  the  culture 
hero  of  Egypt.  After  ascending  the  throne,  having 
taught  his  subjects  the  arts  of  civilization,  he  under- 
took an  expedition  from  Egypt,  in  order  to  visit  and 
dispense  the  same  benefits  to  the  different  countries 
of  the  world.  He  left  his  wife  and  sister  Isis  in 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  75 

charge  of  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom  which  she  ad- 
ministered aided  by  the  counsels  of  her  friend  and 
preceptor  Thoth.  Isis,  being  extremely  vigilant, 
Set,  her  other  brother,  had  no  opportunity  for  mak- 
ing innovations  in  the  government.  Still  he  desired 
to  sit  on  the  throne.  After  the  return  of  Osiris,  he 
conspired  against  him -and  persuaded  seventy -two 
other  persons  to  join  with  him  in  the  conspiracy, 
together  with  a  certain  queen  of  Ethiopia  named 
Aso  who  happened  to  be  in  Egypt  at  the  time.  He 
invited  his  unsuspecting  brother  to  a  banquet,  and 
caused  a  beautiful  chest  to  be  brought  into  the  ban- 
queting-room.  It  was  much  admired  by  all.  He 
then,  as  if  in  jest,  offered  to  give  it  to  the  person  it 
fitted  best.  All  tried  getting  into  it  one  after  an- 
other, but  it  did  not  fit  any  as  well  as  Osiris  when 
he  in  turn  laid  himself  down  in  it.  Then  Set,  aided 
by  the  conspirators,  closed  the  lid  and  fastened  it  on 
the  outside  with  nails. 

This  story  of  a  brother  being  slain  at  the  request  of 
another  brother,  through  jealousy,  is  also  related  in 
Valmiki's  ancient  Sanscrit  poem,  the  "Ramayana." 
We  are  not  informed  by  the  author  from  where  he 
obtained  it;  but  the  victim  was  called  BALI,  and 
MAYA  is  represented  as  being  his  enemy.  The  reci- 
tal of  this  event  being  identical  with  that  archived 
in  the  sculptures  and  mural  paintings  still  existing 
on  the  walls  of  certain  edifices  at  Chichen-Itza,  and 


76  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

with  the  account  of  it  recorded  in  the  second  part  of 
the  Troano  MS.  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  re- 
lation of  the  fratricide  was  brought  to  India  by  some 
Maya  traveler  or  missionary ;  or  maybe  by  the  colo- 
nists from  Mayax  that  Valmiki  tells  us  took  posses- 
sion of  and  settled,  in  very  remote  ages,  in  the  coun- 
tries, at  the  south  of  the  Indo-Chinese  peninsula, 
known  to-day  as  D  e^kkan.  They,  of  course,  brought 
to  their  new  home  with  the  language  and  customs, 
the  civilization,  traditions,  and  folk-lore  from  the 
mother  country.  Among  these  the  tradition  that, 
in  very  ancient  times,  the  son  of  one  of  their  primi- 
tive rulers  murdered  his  brother  through  jealousy, 
in  order  to  possess  himself  of  his  wif  e,  with  whom  he 
had  fallen  in  love,  and  of  the  reins  of  the  govern- 
ment. 

In  the  inflated  style  of  the  Hindoo  poets  Valmiki 
recounts  the  murder  of  Bah.  The  story  is  as  fol- 
lows. There  were  two  princes  named  Bali  and  Sou- 
griva,  sons  of  a  king  of  the  Monkey  nation.  After 
the  death  of  their  father,  Bali  the  eldest  was  called 
to  the  throne,  being  elected  sole  monarch  and  su- 
preme lord  by  the  people.  A  terrible  feud  had 
originated  between  Bali  and  Maya  on  account  of  a 
woman  they  both  coveted.  Maya  challenged  Bali  to 
mortal  combat  and  allured  him  into  an  ambush. 
Bali  not  returning  after  a  time  was  believed  to  have 
succumbed,  and  his  brother  Sougriva  ascended  the 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  77 

throne.  Bali  returned  however,  and  finding  his 
brother  installed  in  his  place  accused  him  of  treason 
in  the  council  of  the  nobles  and  before  the  people. 
He  charged  him  with  causing  the  news  of  his  death 
to  be  circulated  in  order  to  usurp  the  reins  of  the 
government.  Then  he  banished  him  from  court, 
gent  him  adrift  without  means,  depriving  him  of  his 
home,  his  wife  and  his  social  position. 

Sougriva  met  Kama;  besought  his  help  to  avenge 
his  wrongs.  Having  received  his  promise  to  kill 
Bali,  strong  in  the  protection  of  such  an  ally,  he 
challenged  his  brother  to  mortal  combat,  although 
he  knew  that  alone  he  was  not  a  match  for  him. 
During  the  encounter  that  ensued,  Kama  who  was 
present,  seeing  that  Sougriva  was  being  badly 
beaten,  sent  an  arrow  through  the  breast  of  Bali 
and  killed  him.  The  last  word  of  that  prince  to  his 
slayer  who  was  standing  by  him,  were:  "What 
glory  dost  thou  expect  to  reap  from  the  death  thou 
hast  given  me  whilst  I  was  not  even  looking  toward 
thee  ?  Hidden  thou  hast  wounded  me  in  a  coward- 
ly manner  while  my  attention  was  engrossed  in 
that  duel."  And  so  Bali  was  treacherously  slain. 

We  learn  from  the  sculptures  and  mural  paintings 
that  adorn  the  walls  of  the  palaces  at  Chichen-Itza 
and  Uxmal  that  king  Can  (Serpent)  the  founder,  or 
maybe  the  restorer,  of  these  ancient  cities,  had  three 
sons  whose  names  were  Cay  (Fish),  Aac  (Turtle), 


78  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

and  Coh  (Leopard),  and  two  daughters,   Moo  (Ma- 
caw), and  Nicte  (Flower). 

It  was  the  law  among  the  Mayas  that  the  young- 
est of  the  brothers  should  marry  the  eldest  of  the  sis- 
ters to  insure  the  legitimate  and  divine  descent  of 
the  royal  family.  This  same  custom  of  princes  of 
royal  blood  marrying  their  sisters  existed  among 
the  Egyptians  from  the  earliest  days,  and  it  became 
in  after  times  general;  such  alliance  being  consid- 
ered fortunate.  It  also  prevailed  with  the  Ethio- 
pians, the  Greeks,  those  of  Mesopotamia  in  the  time 
of  the  patriarchs,  the  Peruvians,  and  many  other  na- 
tions. Prince  Coh  was  a  brave  and  successful  war- 
rior; at  the  head  of  his  followers,  whom  he  had  often 
led  to  victory,  he  had  conquered  many  nations  and 
greatly  added  to  the  glory  and  extent  of  the  Maya 
empire.  Being  the  youngest  of  the  brothers,  he  was 
the  one  who  had  to  marry  Moo,  the  eldest  of  the 
sisters.  She,  on  her  part,  loved  him  dearly  and  was 
proud  of  his  exploits.  After  the  death  of  King  Can, 
their  father,  the  country  was  parcelled  among  his 
children.  Moo  became  the  queen  of  Chichen,  and 
many  of  the  lords  swore  allegiance  to  her.  After 
her  death  she  received  the  honors  of  apotheosis; 
became  the  goddess  of  fire,  and  was  worshiped 
in  a  magnificent  temple,  built  on  the  summit  of  a 
high  and  very  extensive  pyramid  whose  ruins  are 
still  to  be  seen  in  the  city  of  Izamal. 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  79 

Aac,  the  second  son  of  king  Can,  was  also  in  love 
with  her.  To  his  lot  had  fallen  the  ancient  metrop- 
olis Uxmal,  "the  three  times  rebuilt."  His  head- 
less and  legless  statue  is  still  to  be  seen  over  the  main 
entrance  on  the  f acade  of  the  palace  known  as  the 
"  House  of  the  Governor,"  at  that  place.  The  flay- 
ed bodies  of  his  two  brothers  and  his  eldest  sister  are 
at  his  feet ;  their  heads  hang  from  the  belt  round  his 
waist :  and  the  ruins  of  his  private  residence,  orna- 
mented with  turtles, — his  totem — yet  exist  at  the 
northwest  corner  of  the  second  of  the  three  ter- 
races on  which  the  palace  is  built.  The  law  of  the 
land  and  her  own  predilection  for  Coh  were  insur- 
mountable barriers  that  prevented  Aac  from  mar- 
rying Moo.  He  was  not  a  warrior  but  a  courtier. 
He  spent  his  life  in  idleness  amidst  pleasures  and 
frivolities.  Still  he  was  envious  of  the  fame  won  by 
his  younger  brother  ;  jealous  of  him  because  of  the 
love  of  the  people,  and  still  more  of  that  of  his 
sister  and  wife.  He  allowed  his  evil  passions  to  gain 
the  mastery  over  his  better  feelings.  He  incited  a 
conspiration  against  the  friends  of  his  childhood, 
with  the  object  of  killing  his  own  brother,  to  obtain 
forcible  possession  of  the  sister  he  so  much  coveted, 
seize  the  reins  of  the  government,  and  become  the 
supreme  lord  of  the  whole  empire. 

In  the  carvings  on  the  wooden  lintels  over  the  en- 
trance of  Coh's  funereal  chamber,  in  the  paintings 


80  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

that  adorn  its  walls,  and  in  which  that  part  of  the  life 
of  the  personages  concerned  in  these  events  is  por- 
trayed, Aac  is  represented  full  of  wrath,  holding 
three  spears  in  his  hand,  engaged  in  a  terrible  alter- 
cation with  Coh.  From  the  sculptures  that  adorned 
his  mausoleum  we  learn  that  he  was  murdered 
treacherously  by  being  stabbed  with  a  spear  three 
times  in  the  back;  and  the  author  of  the  Troano 
MS.  in  giving  an  account  of  that  murder  and  its 
consequences,  has  recorded  this  fact  and  illustrated 
it  in  the  first  section  of  plate  xiv.,  in  the  second 
part  of  his  work.  [When  I  disinterred  his  statue,  I 
found  in  an  urn  his  heart,  partially  cremated,  and  the 
flint  head  of  the  spear  with  which  he  was  slain.]  In 
one  of  the  tableaux  of  the  mural  paintings  the  body 
of  Coh,  surrounded  by  his  wife,  his  sister  Nicte,  his 
children  and  his  mother,  is  being  prepared  for  crema- 
tion; the  heart  and  other  viscera  having  been  ex- 
tracted to  be  preserved  in  urns.  A  similar  custom 
prevailed  among  the  Egyptians  of  high  rank  whose 
bodies  were  embalmed  according  to  the  most  expen- 
sive process.  The  internal  parts  of  the  body  having 
been  removed,  were  cleansed,  embalmed  in  spices 
and  various  substances,  then  deposited  in  four  vases 
that  were  placed  in  the  tomb  with  the  coffin. 

At  the  death  of  Coh  the  whole  country  became 
involved  in  a  civil  war.  The  conspirators,  partisans 
of  Aac,  striving  to  seize  the  reins  of  the  government, 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  81 

the  friends  of  Prince  Coh  fighting  to  avenge  his 
death  and  in  defense  of  their  queen.  The  goddess 
of  war  favored  at  times  one  party,  then  the  other. 
Aac,  in  order  to  obtain  the  preponderance,  had  re- 
course to  diplomacy.  He  renewed  his  suit  for  the 
hand  of  his  sister.  He  sent  messengers  to  her,  with 
a  present  of  fruits,  begging  her  to  accept  his  love 
now  that  she  was  free.  The  scene  is  vividly  pictured 
in  the  mural  paintings. 

Queen  Moo  is  represented  seated  in  her  house  situ- 
ated in  the  middle  of  a  garden.  At  her  feet,  but 
outside  of  the  house  to  indicate  that  she  does  not 
accept  it,  is  a  basket  full  of  oranges.  Her  extended 
left  hand  shows  that  she  declines  to  listen  to  the  mes- 
senger who  stands  before  her  in  an  entreating  posture, 
and  that  she  scorns  the  love  of  Aac  who  is  seen  on 
a  lower  plane,  making  an  obeisance.  Over  his  head  is 
a  serpent,  typical  of  his  name,  Can,  looking  as  lov- 
ingly as  a  serpent  can  be  made  to  look,  at  a  Macaw 
perched  on  the  top  of  a  tree  and  above  the  figure  of 
the  queen  whose  totem  it  is.  The  tree  is  guarded  by 
a  monkey  in  a  threatening  attitude.  This  monkey 
here,  as  in  Egypt  the  cynocephalus,  is  the  emblem 
of  the  preceptor  of  Moo,  symbol  therefor  of  wisdom. 

This  tableau  is  most  interesting  and  significant, 
since  in  it  we  have  a  natural  explanation  of  the 
myth  of  the  temptation  of  the  woman  by  the  ser- 
pent. Here  we  have  the  garden,  the  woman,  the 
6 


82  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

temptor,  and  the  fruit.  "The  story  of  this  family 
incident  passing  from  mouth  to  mouth,  from  gener- 
ation to  generation,  from  country  to  country,  has  be- 
come disfigured  probably  by  peoples  that  did  not 
hold  woman  in  as  high  esteem,  or  did  not  honor  her 
as  much  as  the  Mayas  did.  Perhaps,  also,  an  old 
misanthropical  bachelor,  hater  of  the  fair  sex,  wrote 
a  distorted  account  of  the  tradition  out  of  spite  at 
having  been  jilted  by  his  lady-love,  and  his  version 
was  accepted  by  the  author  of  Genesis,  if  he 
himself  did  not  make  the  alteration.  The  fact  is 
that  the  author  of  the  Troano  MS. — (Plate  xvii., 
part  second)  as  the  artist  who  painted  the  scene 
just  described — asserts  that  she  refused  to  listen 
to  Aac's  entreaties,  in  consequence  of  which  the 
civil  war  continued.  At  last  Moo  and  her  fol- 
lowers succumbed.  She  fell  into  the  hands  of  Aac 
who,  after  ill-treating  her,  put  her  to  death  together 
with  Cay  the  high  pontiff,  his  elder  brother,  who 
had  sided  with  the  queen  of  Chichen,  with  right  and 
justice.  In  token  of  his  victory,  Aac  caused  his 
statue — the  feet  resting  on  the  flayed  bodies  of  his 
kin,  their  heads  being  suspended  from  his  belt — to 
be  placed  over  the  main  entrance  of  the  royal  pal- 
ace at  Uxmal,  where,  as  I  have  said,  its  remains 
may  be  seen  to-day 

I  may  add  here  in  explanation  of  the  tableau  of 
the  scene  in  the  garden,  that  the  present  of  a  basket 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  83 

of  oranges  was  the  offer  of  marriage  made  by  Aac 
to  Moo.  It  is  usual  with  the  aborigines  of  Yucatan, 
that  yet  retain  many  of  the  customs  of  their  fore- 
fathers, when  a  young  man  wishes  to  propose  mar- 
riage to  a  girl  to  send  by  a  friend  as  a  present,  a  fruit, 
or  flower,  or  sweetmeat.  The  acceptance  of  the  pres- 
ent is  the  sign  that  the  proposal  of  the  suitor  is  ad- 
mitted, and  from  that  moment  they  are  betrothed; 
whilst  the  refusal  of  the  present  means  that  he 
is  rejected.  A  similar  custom  exists  in  Japan.  When 
a  young  lady  expects  a  proposal  of  marriage  a  con- 
venient flower-pot  is  placed  in  a  handy  position  on 
the  window-sill.  The  lover  plants  a  flower  in  it.  If 
next  morning  the  flower  is  watered  he  can  present 
himself  to  his  lady-love  knowing  that  he  is  wel- 
come. If  on  the  contrary,  the  flower  has  been  up- 
rooted and  thrown  on  the  side-walk,  he  well  under- 
stands he  is  not  wanted. 

The  family  name  of  the  kings  of  Mayax  was  Can 
(serpent)  as  Khan  is  still  the  title  of  the  Kings  of 
Tartary  and  Burmah,  and  of  the  governor  of  pro- 
vinces in  Persia,  Afghanistan  and  other  countries  in 
Central  Asia.  Can  was  therefore  the  family  name 
of  Aac.  The  meaning  of  the  writer  of  Genesis  when 
he  says  that  the  serpent  spoke  to  the  woman  and  se- 
duced her  with  a  fruit  is  now  easily  understood. 

The  account  of  the  fratricide  in  Genesis,  in  the 
Eamayana,  or  in  the  papyri  of  Egypt,  is  nothing 


84  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

more  or  less,  with  a  slight  variance,  than  the  story  of 
the  feuds  of  king  Can's  children.  This  story,  treas- 
ured by  the  priests  of  Egypt  and  India,  consigned  in 
their  sacred  books  and  poems,  has  been  handed  down 
to  us  among  the  primitive  traditions  of  mankind. 

Nowhere,  except  in  Mayax,  do  we  find  it  as  form- 
ing part  of  the  history  of  the  nation.  Nowhere,  ex- 
cept in  Mayax,  do  we  find  the  portraits  of  the  actors 
in  the  tragedy.  There,  we  not  only  see  their  portraits 
carved  in  bas-reliefs,  on  stone  or  wood,  or  their 
marble  statues  in  the  round,  or  represented  in  the 
mural  paintings  that  adorn  the  walls  of  the  funereal 
chamber  built  to  the  memory  of  the  victim,  but  we 
discover  the  ornaments  they  wore,  the  weapons  they 
used,  nay,  more,  their  mortal  remains. 

The  following  is  the  certificate  of  Charles  0. 
Thompson,  Principal  and  Professor  of  Chemistry  at 
the  Worcester  Free  Institute,  who  made  the  chemi- 
cal analysis  of  part  of  the  cremated  remains  found  in 
the  stone  urn  that  was  near  the  chest  of  the  statue 
that  occupied  the  centre  of  the  mausoleum  raised  to 
the  memory  of  the  famous  warrior  Coh,  twenty 
feet  below  the  upper  plane  of  the  monument. 

WORCESTER,  Mass.,  Sept.  25,  1880. 

" Stephen  Salisbury,  Jr.,  Esq.,  submits  an  un- 
i '  known  solid  for  qualitative  examination. 

"  Under  microscope  it  presents  a  certain  compact- 
"ness  and  horny  aspect  characteristic  of  animal 


1086  TVP£, 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  85 

"matter  which  has  been  charred  in  a  close  vessel, 
"it  loses  9  per  cent,  when  dried  at  100°  and  9  per 
"cent,  more  by  combustion.  After  calcination, 
"a  dross  and  residue  remains  which  contains  3  per 
*'  cent,  fenic  oxide,  a  little  alumina  and  much  silica. 
'Warm  water  exposed  to  action  of  residue  shows 
"traces  of  potash  and  soda. 

<  These  results  are  consistent  with  the  theory  that 
"the  mass  was  once  part  of  a  human  body  which 
"has  been  burned  with  some  fuel." 

"CHARLES  O.  THOMPSON." 

There  is  a  fact  certainly  worthy  of  notice,  and  this 
is  that  the  names  of  the  personages  mentioned  in 
the  various  accounts  of  the  fratricide  are  precisely 
identical,  or  are  words  having  the  same  signification. 
May  not  that  be  regarded  as  unimpeachable  proof 
that  they  all  refer  to  the  same  event  ? 

No  one  who  has  any  knowledge  of  philology  will 
ever  deny  that  A-bel— A-bal— Bal-^— Balam  are 
identical  words. 

A,  contraction  of  Ah,  is  the  Maya  masculine  arti- 
cle, the.  Bal  is  the  radical  of  Balam.  Balam  is  for 
the  superstitious  aborigines,  even  to-day,  the  Yumil 
Kaax—the  "Lord  of  the  fields"  the  "Leopard" 
which  they  also  call  Coh— the  totem  of  the  victim  of 
Aac  is  the  leopard — and  it  is  so  represented  in  the 
bas-reliefs  and  sculptures. 

In  Egypt,  the  spotted  skin  of  the  leopard,  usually 
without  the  head,  but  sometimes  with  it,  was  al- 


86 


SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 


ways  suspended  near  the   images  and  statues  of 
Osiris.     The  skin  of  a  leopard  was  worn  as  a  mantle 

over  the  ceremonial  dress 
of  his  priests.  Besides, 
when  represented  as  King 
of  the  Amenti  —  of  the 
"  West"  —  the  symbol  of 
Osiris  was  always  a  crouch- 
ing  leopard 
with  an  open 
eye  over  it. 

We  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  the  leop- 
ard's skin  worn  by  Mmrod  and  Bacchus  was  a  sacred 
appendage  to  the  Mysteries.  It  was  used  in  the 
Eleusinian  as  well  as  in  the  Egyptian  mysteries  in- 
stituted in  honor  of  Osiris.  It  is  mentioned  in  the 
earliest  speculations  by  the  Brahmins  on  the  mean- 
ing of  their  sacrificial  prayers  the  Aytareya  Brah- 
mana,  and  is  used  in  the  agnishtoma  the  initiation 
rites  of  the  Soma  mysteries.  When  the  neophyte 
is  to  be  born  again  he  is  covered  with  a  "  leopard 
skin,"  out  of  which  he  emerges  as  from  his  mother's 
womb.  A  leopard  skin  is  worn  by  the  African  war- 
riors, who  are  so  fortunate  as  to  possess  one,  as  a 
charm  to  render  them  invulnerable  to  spears  ac- 
cording to  the  French  traveler  Paul  du  Chaillu.  It 
would  seem  as  if  the  manner  in  which  Coh  met  his 
death,  by  being  stabbed  with  a  spear,  had  been  known 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  87 

to  their  ancestors,  and  that  they  imagined  that 
wearing  his  totem  would  save  them  from  being 
wounded  with  the  same  kind  of  weapon  used  in  kill- 
ing him.  That  the  inhabitants  of  Africa  had  com- 
munications with  those  of  the  Western  Continent 
there  can  be  no  doubt,  since  populations  of  black 
people  existed  on  the  isthmus  of  Panama  and  other 
localities  at  the  time  of  the  first  arrival  of  the  Span- 
iards; besides  their  pictures  can  be  seen  in  the  mural 
paintings  at  Chichen. 

As  to  the  name  Osir,  or  be  it  Ozil,  it  would  seem 
to  be  a  nickname  given  to  Coh  on  account  of  the 
great  love  his  sisters,  and  the  people  in  general,  pro- 
fessed for  him.  Ozil  is  a  Maya  verb  that  means  to 
desire  vehemently.  He,  therefore,  who  was  very 
much  desired — dearly  beloved. 

Osiris  in  Egypt,  Abel  in  Chaldea,  Bali  in  India, 
are  myths.  Coh,  in  May  ax,  is  a  reality — a  warrior 
whose  mausoleum  I  have  opened;  whose  weapons 
and  jade  ornaments  are  in  my  possession;  whose 
heart  I  have  found,  and  a  piece  of  which  was  ana- 
lyzed by  Professor  Thompson;  whose  statue,  with 
his  name  inscribed  on  the  tablets  occupying  the 
place  of  the  ears,  I  have  unearthed,  and  which  is 
now  in  the  National  Museum  in  the  City  of  Mexico, 
one  of  the  most  precious  relics  in  that  institution, 
having  been  robbed  from  me,  by  force  of  arms,  by 
the  Mexican  authorities. 


88 


SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 


Isis  was  the  wife  and  sister  of  Osiris.  The  word 
Isismsij  simply  be  a  dialectical  mode  of  pronounc- 
ing the  Maya  word  ioin  (idzin)  the  younger  sister. 
Her  headgear,  as  a  goddess,  was  a  vulture.  That 
bird  was  her  totem  and  the  peculiar  type  of  mater- 
nity. Isis  was  of  ten  called  the  great  mother-goddess 
Man;  a  word  certainly  as  suggestive  of  the  name 


Moo,  sister  and  wife  of  Coh  and  queen  of  Chichen, 
as  the  vulture  is  of  the  Macaw.  It  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  one  of  the  titles  of  Isis  was  the 
royal  wife  and  sister. 


SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

Isis  was  the  wife  and  sister  of  Osiris.  The  word 
Isismay  simply  be  a  dialectical  mode  of  pronounc- 
ing the  Maya  word  ioin  (idzin)  the  younger  sister. 
Her  headgear,  as  a  goddess,  was  a  vulture.  That 
bird  was  her  totem  and  the  peculiar  type  of  mater- 
nity. Isis  was  of  ten  called  the  great  mother-goddess 
Mau;  a  word  certainly  as  suggestive  of  the  name 
0 


Moo,  sister  and  wife  of  Coh  and  queen  of  Chichen, 
as  the  vulture  is  of  the  Macaw.  It  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  one  of  the  titles  of  Isis  was  the 
royal  wife  and  sister. 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  89 

Authors,  who  of  course  know  nothing  of  the  facts 
in  the  ancient  history  of  Mayax,  revealed  to  me  by 
the  sculptures  and  the  mural  paintings  of  the  tem- 
ples and  palaces  of  the  Mayas,  and  contained  in  the 
pages  of  the  Troano  MS.,  do  not  believe  that  Osiris 
and  his  sister  Isis  were  deified  persons  who  had  lived 
on  earth,  but  fabulous  beings,  whose  history  was 
founded  on  metaphysical  speculations,  and  adapted 
to  certain  phenomena  of  nature.  But  the  primitive 
rulers  of  the  Mayas,  whose  history  is  an  exact 
counterpart  of  that  of  the  children  of  Seb  and  Nut, 
were  deified  after  their  death  and  worshiped  as 
gods  of  the  elements.  My  object  is  not  here  to  en- 
ter into  long  explanations  on  these  historical 
disclosures.  I  refer  the  reader  who  wishes  to  know 
more  of  the  subject  to  my  work,  "  The  Monuments 
of  Mayax  and  their  Historical  Teachings." 

As  to  the  names  Cain,  Set,  Sougriva,  Aac,  they 
aU  convey  the  idea  of  something  belonging  to  or 
having  affinity  with  water. 

Cain,  by  apocope,  gives  Cay,  the  Maya  word  for 
"fish." 

Set  is  a  cognate  word  of  the  Maya  Ze,  to  ill-treat 
with  blows.  Can  a  name  be  more  appropriate  to 
designate  one  who  has  killed  his  brother  with  three 
thrusts  of  his  spear;  and  his  sister  by  kicking  her  to 
death,  as  Aac  is  represented  doing  by  the  author  of 
the  Troano  MS.? 


90  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

Set,  after  being  treated  with  the  same  honor  as  the 
other  members  of  the  family  of  Seb,  came  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  Evil  principle  and  was  called  Nubti, 
that  is,  according  to  the  Maya  language,  the  adver- 
sary, from  nup  adversary  and  ti  for.  He  also  was 
the  Sun  God,  the  enemy  of  the  serpent.  Here  again 
we  have  a  most  singular  resemblance,  to  say  the 
least.  Aac,  in  the  sculptures  of  Mayax,  is  always 
pictured  surrounded  by  the  sun  as  his  protecting 
genius;  while  the  serpent,  emblem  of  the  country, 
always  shields  Coh  and  his  sister- wife  within  its 
folds.  The  escutcheon  of  the  city  of  Uxmal  shows 
that  the  title  of  that  metropolis  was  the  "  Land  of 
the  Sun."  In  the  bas-reliefs  of  the  queen's  chamber 
at  Chichen,  the  followers  of  Aac  are  seen  to  render 
homage  to  the  Sun-,  the  friends  of  Moo  to  the  ser- 
pent. So  in  Mayax  as  in  Egypt,  the  Sun  and  the 
Serpent  were  inimical.  In  Egypt  this  enmity  was  a 
myth;  in  Mayax  a  dire  reality. 

The  hippopotamus  and  the  crocodile  were  emblems 
of  Set.  Plutarch  says  "that  at  Hermopolis  there 
"was  a  statue  of  Set,  which  was  a  hippopotamus 
"with  a  hawk  upon  its  back  fighting  with  a  serpent. " 
Both  the  hippopotamus  and  the  crocodile  are  am- 
phibious animals,  having  consequently  much  affin- 
ity with  water. 

Aac,  in  Maya,  is  the  name  for  the  turtle,  also  an 
amphibious  animal. 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  91 

The  name  Sougriva,  of  the  brother  of  Bali,  is  a 
word  composed  of  three  Maya  primitives,  zuc,  lib,  ha, 
zuc,  quiet,  tranquil;  lib,  to  ascend,  and/ki,  water— 
"He  who  tranquilly  rises  on  the  water"  as  the 
turtle  does. 

The  universal  deluge  is  another  tradition  of  the 
early  days  that  was  credited  by  certain  civilized  na- 
tions of  antiquity. 

The  Egyptian  priests  who,  from  times  immemo- 
rial, had  kept  in  the  archives  of  the  temples  a 
faithful  account  of  all  events  worthy  of  being  re- 
membered, derided  the  Greek  philosophers  when 
they  spoke  of  the  deluge  of  Deucalion  and  the  de- 
struction of  the  human  race.  Their  answer  was 
that  as  they  had  been  preserved  from  it  the  inun- 
dation could  nob  have  been  universal;  they  even 
added  that  the  Hellenes  were  childish  in  attaching 
so  much  importance  to  that  event,  as  there  had 
been  several  other  local  catastrophes  resembling  it. 
They  told  Solon  that  the  greatest  cataclysm  on 
record  in  their  books  was  that  during  which  Atlan- 
tis disappeared  under  the  waves  of  the  ocean,  in 
one  day  and  night,  in  consequence  of  violent  earth- 
quakes and  volcanic  eruptions;  that  from  that 
time  all  communications  between  their  people  and 
the  inhabitants  of  the  " Lands  of  the  West"  had 
become  interrupted;  the  occurrence  having  taken 
place  9,000  years  before  his  visit  to  Egypt. 


92  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

An  account  of  that  fearful  event  was  also  pre- 
served by  the  learned  men  of  Mayax  who  give  of  it 
a  description  identical  with  that  given  by  the  Egyp- 
tians. Nearly  all  the  nations  living  on  the  western 
continent  have  kept  the  tradition  of  it,  but  they  do 
not  pretend  that  all  mankind  was  destroyed. 

In  Mayax  the  learned  priests  caused  a  relation  of 
it  to  be  carved  in  intaglio  on  the  stone  that  forms 
the  lintel  over  the  interior  doorway  in  the  rooms  on 
the  south  side  of  their  college.  The  building  is 
known  to  this  day  by  the  name  of  Akab-oib,  the 
dark,  or  terrible  writing. 

The  author  of  the  Troano  MS.,  a  work,  I  have  al- 
ready said,  on  geology,  dedicates  several  pages  at 
the  beginning  of  the  second  part  to  the  recital  of 
that  fearful  cataclysm,  and  the  phenomena  which 
then  took  place.  This  leaves  no  longer  room  for 
doubting  that  a  large  continent  existed  in  the  middle 
of  the  Atlantic  ocean,  and  which  was  destroyed  with- 
in the  memory  of  man;  and  that  the  narrative  by 
Plato  of  the  submersion  of  Atlantis  is,  in  the  main, 
correct.  The  Maya  author  represents  the  lost  land 
by  the  figure  of  a  black  man  with  red  lips,  which 
would  imply  that  it  was  mostly  inhabited  by  a  race 
of  black  men.  In  this  case,  the  presence  of  black- 
skinned  populations  on  the  Western  continent,  an- 
terior to  the  advent  of  the  Spaniards,  would  be 
easily  accounted  for.  The  Mayas  like  the  Egyp- 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  93 

tians,  represented  the  world  as  an  old  man.  Plu- 
tarch says  they  called  East  the  face,  North  the 
right  side,  South  the  left  side;  this  conception  has 
reached  our  days,  only  we  reckon  the  East  as  the 
right  hand,  West  the  left,  North  the  face. 

When  the  author  of  the  Troano  MS.,  speaks  of  the 
( '  Master  of  the  land  ' '  par  excellence,  that  is  king  Can 
deified,  he  pictures  him  sometimes  with  a  human 
body,  painted  blue,  and  the  head  of  a  mastodon. 
On  the  fagade  of  the  building  at  Chichen  Itza 
called  by  the  natives  Kuna,  the  house  of  God,  to 
which  Stephens,  in  his  work  on  Yucatan,  gives  the 
name  of  Iglesia,  is  a  tableau  representing  the  wor- 
ship of  that  great  pachyderm,  whose  head,  with  its 
trunk,  forms  the  principal  ornament  of  the  temples 
and  palaces  built  by  the  members  of  king  Can's 
family. 

This  tableau  is  composed  of  a  face  intended  for 
that  of  the  mastodon.  Over  the  trunk  and  between 
the  eyes  formerly  existed  a  human  head,  which  has 
been  destroyed  by  malignant  hands.  It  wore  a 
royal  crown.  This  is  stih1  in  place.  On  the  front 
of  it  is  a  small  portrait  cut  in  the  round  of  some 
very  ancient  personage.  On  each  side  of  the  head 
are  square  niches  containing  each  two  now  head- 
less statues,  a  male  and  a  female;  they  are  seated, 
not  Indian  fashion,  squatting,  but  with  the  legs 
crossed  and  doubled  under  them,  in  a  worshiping 


94  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

attitude.  Each  carries  a  symbol  on  their  back; 
totem  of  the  nation  or  tribe  by  which  the  mastodon 
was  held  sacred.  Under  these  figures,  are  two  tri- 
angles .^^  emblems  of  offerings  and  worship  in 
Mayax  as  in  Eygpt.  So  also  was  the  other  symbol 
image  of  a  honey-comb,  an  oblation  most 
grateful  to  the  gods,  since  with  the  bark  of  the 
Balche  tree,  honey  formed  the  principal  ingredient 
of  Balche,  that  beverage  so  pleasing  to  their  palate: 
the  same  that  under  the  name  of  nectar,  Hebe 
served  to  the  inhabitants  of  Olympus.  It  is  the 
Amrita,  still  enjoyed,  on  the  day  of  the  full  moon, 
by  the  gods,  the  manes  and  the  saints,  according  to 
the  Hindoos;  although  it  was  the  cause  of  the  war 
between  the  gods  and  the  Titans,  and  is  the  origin 
of  many  sanguinary  quarrels  among  the  tribes  of 
equatorial  Africa  even  in  our  days. 

These  symbols  leave  no  doubt  as  to  the  fact  that 
the  personages  represented  by  the  statues  are  in  the 
act  of  worshiping  the  mastodon. 

The  corona  of  the  upper  cornice,  that  above  the 
mastodon's  head,  is  formed  of  a  peculiar  wavy 
adornment  often  met  with  in  the  ornamentation  of 
the  monuments  erected  by  the  Cans.  Emblematic 
of  the  serpent,  it  is  composed  of  two  letters  N  jux- 
taposed, monogram  of  Can  £§£=.  The  corona  of 
the  lower  cornice  is  made  of  two  characters 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  95 

that  read  in  Maya  Ah  oam,  He  of  the  throne — the 
monarch. 

In  Japan  the  seven  members  of  the  Can  family, 
deified  and  figured  by  the  same  symbols  as  in 
Mayax,  are  worshiped  to-day  in  the  shrine  of  the 
palace  at  Tokio,  dedicated  to  the  goddess  symbo- 
lized by  a  bird.  This  goddess  calls  to  mind  the  god- 
dess Moo  of  the  Mayas,  or  Isis  of  the  Egyptians. 
In  the  upper  part  of  the  shrine,  over  and  above 
all  the  other  attendants  who  have  wings  and 
beaked  noses,  is  seen  an  elephant  couchant,  the 
god  of  fire  standing  on  his  back.  In  the  midst 
of  the  flames  that  surround  him  is  the  head  of  a 
bird.  So  in  Chichen  we  see  the  followers  of  queen 
Moo,  who,  we  are  informed  by  the  author  of  the 
Troano  MS.  became  the  goddess  of  fire,  carrying 
her  totem,  a  bird,  in  their  head-gears. 

The  Japanese  claim  to  be  offspring  of  the  gods, 
and  produce  two  different  genealogical  tables  in 
support  of  their  assertion.  These  gods  amounting 
to  seven,  are  said  to  have  reigned  an  almost  incalcu- 
lable number  of  years  in  the  country;  although 
they  assert  that  these  primitive  gods  were  spiritual 
substances,  incorporeal.  They  were  succeeded  by 
five  terrestrial  spirits,  or  deified  heroes,  after  whom 
appeared  the  Japanese  themselves. 

Here  again  we  have  a  reminiscence,  as  it  were, 
of  the  twelve  gods,  that  the  Egyptians  told  Hero- 


96  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

dotus,  had  governed  their  country,  an  incalculable 
number  of  years,  before  the  reign  of  Menes  their 
first  terrestrial  king.  These  gods  were  converted 
by  the  Greeks  into  the  twelve  deities,  dwellers  of  the 
Olympus.  The  twelve  serpent  heads,  brought  to 
light  by  me  in  December,  1883,  from  the  cen- 
ter of  the  mausoleum  of  the  high-pontiff  Cay,  at 
Chichen-Itza,  are  emblematic  of  the  twelve  rulers, 
who  had  reigned  in  Mayax  in  times  anterior  to  the 
great  cataclysm  when  Atlantis  was  submerged; 
whose  portraits,  with  the  sign  cimi,  dead,  adorn  the 
east  f agade  of  the  palace  with  the  tableau  of  creation, 
showing  that  they  existed  in  very  early  times.  Of 
these  rulers  we  again  find  a  dim  tradition  in  China 
in  the  Tchi,  also  called  che-cull-tse — the  twelve  chil- 
dren of  the  emperor  of  Heaven,  Tien-Hoang,  who 
had  the  body  of  a  serpent.  Each  of  these  Tchi  are 
said  to  have  lived  eighteen  thousand  years,  and  to 
have  reigned  in  times  anterior  to  Ti-hoang,  sover- 
eign of  the  country  in  the  middle  of  the  land. 

From  this  short  digression  let  us  return  to  the 
worship  of  the  mastodon  which  we  find  very 
prevalent  in  India  in  that  of  the  elephant  Ganesha, 
the  god  of  prudence,  of  wisdom,  of  letters,  repre- 
sented as  a  red  colored  man  with  the  head  of  an 
elephant.  He  is  invoked  by  the  Hindoos  of  all  sects 
at  the  outset  of  any  business.  No  one  would  dream 
of  writing  a  letter  or  a  book  without  previously 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  97 

saluting  Ganesha.  His  image  is  seen  at  the  cross- 
ing of  the  roads,  oftentimes  decorated  with  a  gar- 
land of  flowers,  the  offering  of  some  pious  devotee. 
Architects  place  it  in  the  foundation  of  every  edi- 
fice. It  is  sculptured  or  painted  at  the  door  of  every 
house  as  a  protection  against  evil;  at  one  of  the  en- 
trances of  every  Hindoo  city,  that  is  called  Ganesha- 
pol,  as  well  as  in  some  conspicuous  door  of  the  pal- 
ace. We  have  already  seen  that  in  the  most  ancient 
edifices  of  Mayax  the  mastodon's  head  with  its 
trunk  is  the  principal  and  most  common  ornament. 
Are  these  mere  coincidences  ?  The  name  Ganesha- 
pol  would  be  according  to  the  Maya  language,  the 
head  of  Ganesha;  pol,  in  Maya,  being  the  head.  If  I 
wished  to  go  further  I  might  say  that  in  Ganesha 
we  have  a  dialectical  pronounciation  of  Can-ex, 
' '  the  serpents. ' '  No  deity  in  the  Hindoo  pantheon  is 
so  often  addressed;  and  his  titles  are  so  numerous 
that  like  Osiris  it  might  be  named  Myrionymus 
"  with  ten  thousand  names." 

So  many  are  the  legends  accounting  for  the  ele- 
phant head,  it  may  be  safely  assumed  that  its 
origin  is  unknown.  May  not  its  worship  have 
been  introduced  in  India,  with  many  other  cus- 
toms, that  for  instance  of  carrying  the  children 
astride  on  the  hip;  of  printing  an  impression  of  the 
human  hand,  dipped  in  red  liquid,  on  the  walls 

of  the  temples  and  other  sacred  buildings  by  devo- 

7 


98  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

tees  etc. ;  by  colonists  from  Mayax  where  these  cus- 
toms prevailed,  and  the  worship  of  the  mastodon 
was  widely  spread  if  not  general?  This  surmise 
assumes  the  semblance  of  probability  when  we  con- 
sider that  the  body  of  Ganesha  is  painted  red,  the 
color  characteristic  of  the  American  race,  and  the 
symbol  of  nobility  of  race  among  the  Egyptians. 

The  elephant  was  not  among  the  animals  wor- 
shiped by  them.  They  do  not  seem  to  have  been 
much  acquainted  with  it.  But  the  imprint  of  the 
red  hand,  so  commonly  seen  on  the  walls  of  the 
temples  of  Mayax  and  India,  has  never  been  ob- 
served in  the  temples  of  Egypt;  neither  did  the 
Egyptian  women  carry  their  children  astride  on  their 
hip,  as  do  still  those  of  India  and  Yucatan,  al- 
though many  other  customs  were  common  to  the 
people  of  these  countries.  It  is  probable  that  the 
colonists  from  the  "  Lands  of  the  West "  who  set- 
tled in  the  valley  of  the  Nile,  replaced  the  worship 
of  the  mastodon,  which  did  not  exist  in  the  country, 
by  that  of  the  bull,  the  largest  and  most  useful  of 
their  domestic  animals;  and  that  this  was  the  origin 
of  their  veneration  for  the  bull  Apis,  as  those 
who  were  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  Osiris 
well  knew,  being  told  that  Apis  ought  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  fair  and  beautiful  image  of  their  soul. 

From  the  remotest  antiquity  the  serpent  was 
held  by  every  people  in  the  greatest  veneration  as 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  99 

the  embodiment  of  divine  wisdom.  We  have  al- 
ready said  that  Eusebius  asserts  that  the  Egyptians 
figured  emblematically  Kneph,  the  Creator,  as  a  ser- 
pent; and  that  the  Maya  learned  priests  represented 
the  engendered,  the  ancestor  of  all  beings,  in  the 
sculptures,  protected  within  the  coils  of  the  serpent. 
Mr.  Stanyland  Wake,  in  his  book  on  the  origin  of 
the  serpent  worship  writes:  "the  student  of  my- 
thology knows  that  certain  ideas  were  associated  by 
the  people  of  antiquity  with  the  serpent,  and  that 
it  was  the  favorite  symbol  of  peculiar  deities;  but 
why  that  animal  rather  than  any  other  was  chosen 
for  that  purpose  is  yet  uncertain." 

The  late  Mr.  James  Fergusson  in  his  work  on 
"  Serpent  and  Tree  Worship,"  a  work  so  full  of  eru- 
dition and  interesting  researches,  whilst  he  conclu- 
sively shows  that  these  worships  were  common  to 
all  civilized  and  half  civilized  nations  of  antiquity, 
fails  to  indicate  the  country  where  they  originated. 
All  authors  who  have  written  on  the  subject,  admit 
that  their  origin  is  still  an  impenetrable  mystery;  al- 
though they  agree  that  they  are  so  intimately  con- 
nected as  to  make  it  impossible  not  to  believe  it 
must  have  been  the  same. 

The  limited  scope  of  this  book  does  not  allow  me 
to  give  the  matter  all  the  space  it  deserves.  I  will 
therefore  content  myself,  with  bringing  forth  such 
facts  as  will  conclusively  show,  at  least  to  unpreju- 


100  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

diced  minds,  that  the  serpent  and  tree  worship  in- 
deed originated  on  this  "  Western  continent,"  and 
from  the  same  cause;  "the  love  of  the  country," 
from  the  amor-patriot,  still  so  firmly  rooted  in  the 
heart  of  the  aborigines,  that  it  is  difficult  to  induce 
them  to  leave  the  spot  where  they  are  born,  even  to 
better  their  condition.  Everywhere  on  the  Eastern 
continents  serpent  worship  is  connected  with  myth- 
ological narratives,  metaphysical  speculations,  or 
astronomical  conceptions,  far  above  the  intellectual 
and  scientific  attainments  of  the  mass  of  people 
among  whom  it  prevailed. 

These  were  mere  fictions  invented  by  the  priests 
and  learned  men,  to  conceal  either  the  real  facts,  or 
may  be,  their  own  ignorance  of  them.  Still,  an- 
xious to  maintain  the  preponderance  and  power  that 
knowledge  gave  them  over  the  multitudes,  and  hav- 
ing to  satisfy  their  curiosity,  they  imagined  such 
explanations  as  best  suited  the  notions  current  in 
their  times  and  the  ideas  of  the  people. 

In  early  days  the  serpent,  emblem  of  Kneph,  the 
Creator,  was  the  agathodcemon,  the  good  genius.  It 
is  still  so  regarded  by  the  Chinese,  who  consider  it 
one  of  their  most  beautiful  symbols.  Later,  when 
it  became  emblematical  of  Set  or  Typho,  the  slayer 
of  Osiris,  it  was  looked  upon  with  horror,  as  the 
evil  principle,  the  destroyer,  the  enemy  of  man- 
kind. It  has  ever  since  continued  to  be  so  held  by 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  101 

the  Jews,  the  Christians,  the  Mahometans,  in  fact 
by  all  peoples  whose  religious  tenets  are  founded  on 
the  Bible.  If  the  tree  and  serpent  were  worshiped 
throughout  the  Eastern  continents  from  the  shores 
of  the  Atlantic  ocean  to  those  of  the  Pacific,  from 
Scandinavia  to  Egypt  and  the  Asiatic  peninsulse, 
their  worship  was  not  less  spread  amongst  the 
nations  that  inhabited  the  "  Lands  of  ibhe  West." 
We  find  vestiges  of  it  everywhere  on  the  Western 
continent;  from  the  banks  of  Brush  creek,  in 
Adams  county,  in  the  State  of  Ohio,  where  still  ex- 
ists, on  the  crest  of  a  mound,  the  effigy  of  a  great 
serpent  700  feet  long,  entirely  similar  to  that  dis- 
covered by  Mr.  John  S.  Phene  in  Glen  Feechan, 
Argyleshire,  in  Scotland,  to  the  ancient  city  of  Tia- 
huanuco,  whose  ruins  are  13,500  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  Pacific  on  the  shores  of  lake  Tificaca, 
near  the  frontier  of  Bolivia,  on  the  high  plateau 
of  the  Andes.  There  is  yet  to  be  seen  a  very  re- 
markable doorway  formed  out  of  a  single  mono- 
lith 13  feet  5  inches  long,  7"  feet  high  above  the 
ground,  and  18  inches  thick.  This  monolith  has 
attracted  the  attention  of  d'Orbigny  and  the  other 
travelers  who,  like  myself,  have  been  struck  with 
astonishment  by  the  beauty  of  the  sculptures  that 
adorn  its  south-eastern  fagade.  Mayas,  no  doubt, 
were  the  unknown  builders  of  that  great  city;  since 
in  the  sculptures  mentioned,  we  find,  as  in  the  tern- 


102  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

pies  of  Japan,  the  totem  of  prince  Coh,  of  his  wife 
and  sister  Moo,  and  of  their  father  king  CAN 
(serpent). 

I  will  make  here  a  short  digression  in  order  to  de- 
scribe these  sculptures,  that  with  the  knowledge  we 
possess  to-day  of  the  history  of  the  founders  of  the 
principal  ruined  cities  of  Mayax,  afford  us  another 
proof  that  the  builders  of  that  city  of  Tiahuanuco 
belonged  to  a  then  highly  civilized  nation,  which 
sent  colonists  to  the  remotest  parts  of  the  earth, 
as  the  English  do  to-day,  and  to  whose  historical 
annals  may  be  traced  many  of  the  primitive  tradi- 
tions of  mankind.  This  city  was  already  in  ruins 
when  Manco  Capac  laid  the  foundation  of  the  Inca's 
empire,  and  had  been  constructed  by  giants  be- 
fore the  sun  shone  in  heaven,  as  the  natives  said 
to  the  Spaniards  when  questioned  as  to  its  an- 
tiquity. 

We  have  seen  that  the  members  of  the  family  of 
king  Can,  are  still  worshiped  in  the  temples  of 
Japan,  as  of  old  they  were  in  those  of  Egypt;  we 
now  meet  unimpeachable  records  of  them,  carved 
on  very  ancient  monuments,  on  the  shores  of  lake 
Titicaca,  at  the  foot  of  the  great  glaciers  of  Sorata 
and  Illimani,  as  we  have  found  them  in  mytho- 
logical lore  of  India  and  Greece.  Will  it  be  said 
that  these  are  mere  coincidences  ? 

The  front  of  this  monolithic  gate  was  once  upon 


arg 


MOSS    TYPE. 


MOSS    ENG.    CO.,    N.  Y. 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  103 

a  time  as  highly  polished  as  the  material,  trachite, 
will  permit.  The  whole  space  above  the  doorway  is 
divided  into  four  bands  about  eight  inches  high. 
The  lower  band  contains  seventeen  small  heads,  in 
low  relief,  adorned  in  a  somewhat  similar  manner 
to  that  of  the  central  figure.  Seven  of  these,  those 
directly  under  that  figure  wear,  like  it,  a  badge  that 
seems  to  be  a  plume  composed  of  three  feathers. 
These  small  heads  are  separated  by  grecques  having 
macaw's  heads  at  their  salient  sides;  these  grecques 
are  the  symbol  of  power  and  strength.  In  the 
ancient  Maya  and  Egyptian  alphabets  the  grecque 
is  equivalent  to  our  latin  letter  H.  All  is  the  Maya 
masculine  article,  and  it  conveys  to  the  mind  the 
idea  of  might  and  power;  this,  taken  in  connection 
with  the  macaw's  head,  totem  of  Moo,  the  queen  of 
Chichen,  signifies  the  mighty,  the  powerful  Moo. 

The  other  bands  are  divided  into  squares  of  the 
same  size,  except  in  the  center  over  the  doorway, 
where  there  is  a  figure  32  by  21  inches. 

Its  head,  the  form  of  which  is  not  only  convention- 
al, as  its  square  eyes  and  mouth  indicate,  but  likewise 
emblematical,  consists  of  three  superposed  layers  in 
the  shape  of  escutcheons,  the  uppermost  of  which 
is  sculptured  so  as  to  represent  a  human  face. 
These  three  escutcheons  as  the  three  feathers  of  the 
plume  that  adorns  it,  the  triple  throne  on  which  the 
figure  seems  to  stand,  the  three  dots  on  each  cheek, 


104  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

the  three  oblong  squares  on  the  breast-plate,  the 
three  macaw's  heads  at  the  extremities  of  the  triple 
sceptre  it  holds  in  its  hands,  are  symbolical  of  the 
three  great  western  regions  that  the  Egyptians 
designated  by  the  generic  name  of  "Lands  of  the 
West"  and  represented  by  the  character  |JMM 
which  is  an  image  of  the  crown  'worn  by  some  of 
the  high  chiefs  in  Mayax.  That  the  central  figure 


was  meant  to  represent  these  countries,  the  sign 
r  j.  that  stands  in  lieu  of  the  mouth,  indicates. 
It  is  the  letter  M,  pronounced  Ma,  of  the  Maya  and 
Egyptian  ancient  alphabets.  It  is  the  radical  of  May- 
ax,  name  of  the  Maya  empire.  But  Ma  in  Egypt  as 
in  Mayax,  is  a  word  that  signifies  land,  country,  and 
by  extension  universe;  and  in  Mayax  as  in  Egypt 
L  i  is  one  of  the  signs  for  land. 

The  head  is  surrounded  by  rays  divided  into  groups 
of  four;  four  on  the  top,  four  on  each  side,  and  four 
on  the  under  part.  Each  ray  is  terminated  by  a 
circle  with  a  dot  in  the  center  O,  a  sign  very  often 
met  with  on  the  monuments  of  Mayax;  particularly 
on  the  trunk  of  the  mastodon's  heads.  It  is  the 
first  letter  of  the  ancient  Maya  and  Egyptian  alpha- 


s^  •.^•'^3^5^rs£sr,r.  ^ 
:::i,^^S^^&^^S[ 


l^iiHP^^W 

r  :vt^-^K^~S^r «  r« 

F-"li-  »"*  "•*    ; 

l:£^r^  -! 
O££&h 


?^a 


4J^S^  •ia^^,^^U-^>^^: 


^^^^Pl^^^  • 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  105 

bets,  and  correspond  to  .our  letter  A,  the  initial 
of  the  Maya  word  Ahau,  king.*  £  This  would  indi- 
cate that  the  central  figure  was  likewise  symbolical 
of  the  king  par  excellence,  ruler  of  the  empire, 
whom  the  kneeling  personages  that  surround  it,  are 
in  the  act  of  worshiping  as  shown,  not  only  by 
their  posture,  but  also  by  the  sign  ^,  carved  on 
the  neck  of  the  macaw-headed  figures,  the  followers 
of  the  queen  Moo  (macaw),  which  again  in  Mayax 
as  in  Egypt  is  the  symbol  of  offering,  worship, 
and  adoration.  The  name  of  this  great  king  we 
read  in  the  four  heads  of  leopards,  terminating  the 
rays  at  the  upper  angles,  and  those  in  the  middle 
on  each  side  of  the  escutcheon,  and  in  the  four  rays 
of  each  group.  Translating  these  symbols  by  means 
of  the  Maya  language,  we  find  that  Can  Coh  was 
the  name  of  the  potentate;  and  that  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Can  family,  rulers  of  Mayax.  This  fact 
is  indicated  by  the  serpent  heads  at  the  lower  angles 
of  the  escutcheon,  those  at  the  extremities  of  the 
breast-plate,  the  four  oblong  squares  carved  on  the 
ribbons  that  support  it,  and  the  number  of  rays 
forming  each  group  round  the  head. 

In  Maya  four  is  can;  but  can  also  means  serpent, 
likewise  power.  Number  four  according  to  Pythag- 
oras, was  particularly  connected  with  Mercury,  the 
Thoth  of  the  Egyptians,  as  the  deity  who  imparted 
intellectual  gifts  to  man.  The  Tetraktus  or  number 


106  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

four  represented  the  mystic  name  of  the  Creative 
Power;  and  in  later  times  it  meant  intellect,  wis- 
dom, all  that  is  active.  Pythagoras  asks:  "How 
do  you  count  ? "  Mercury:  "  one,  two,  three,  four. " 
Pythagoras:  "  Do  you  not  see  that  what  are  four  to 
you  are  ten  and  our  oath?  those  (1,  2,  3,  4,)  added 
together,  forming  ten,  and  four  containing  every 
number  within  it. "  The  four  leopard  heads  are  his 
totem,  Kancoh,  Coh  being  leopard.  Further  on, 
I  will  refer  more  in  detail  to  these  personages, 
and  to  the  role  they  have  played  in  the  civilization 
of  the  world,  having  been,  and  being  still,  wor- 
shiped in  many  countries  under  different  names. 
The  peculiar  shape  of  the  sceptre  held  in  the  left 
hand  of  the  figure,  the  upper  part  of  which  is  bifur- 
cated, each  end  terminating  with  the  head  of  a 
macaw,  totem  of  the  queen  Moo  of  Chichen-Itza,  sis- 
ter and  wife  of  Coh,  and  its  undulations,  like  those 
of  a  serpent  in  motion,  seem  intended  as  an  emblem 
of  the  three  great  regions  that  composed  the  empire 
that  is  likewise  portrayed  in  the  three  rows  of  kneel- 
ing winged  personages.  The  upper  portion  of  said 
sceptre  is  symbolical  of  the  Western  continent,  di- 
vided into  two  great  parts  united  by  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama.  The  lower  was  meant  to  represent  that 
extensive  island  that  sunk  beneath  the  waves  of  the 
Atlantic  ocean,  about  11,500  years  ago. 
The  sceptre  held  in  the  right  hand  of  the  central 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  107 

figure  being  whole,  would  show  that  the  entire 
country  was  governed  by  a  potentate  to  whom  the 
rulers  of  the  seventeen  nations,  into  which  the  em- 
pire was  divided,  paid  homage  and  acknowledged 
as  their  suzerain.  These  seventeen  divisions  of  the 
empire  are  indicated  by  the  seventeen  small  heads 
sculptured  on  the  lower  band,  and  the  seventeen 
signs  of  land  that  adorned  the  arms,  the  breast- 
plate, and  the  ribbon  from  which  it  is  suspended. 

Of  the  small  kneeling  winged  figures,  those  of  the 
middle  row  are  portrayed  with  the  heads  of  macaws 
to  signify  that  they  are  the  particular  adherents  of 
queen  Moo,  that  here,  as  in  Mayax,  carry  her  totem 
as  a  badge  or  sign  of  recognition;  whilst  the  others 
have  human  heads,  but  wear  on  their  crowns  her 
totem,  in  token  that  they  recognize  her  as  their 
suzerain.  All  these  figures  are  ornamented  with 
twelve  serpents,  arranged  in  groups  of  three,  whilst 
the  sash  they  carry  across  their  body  from  the 
shoulder  to  the  waist  on  the  opposite  side,  termi- 
nates in  a  peculiar  knot  adorned  with  the  four  cir- 
cles, that  we  have  said  stood  for  the  word  Ahau, 
that  is  king,  indicating  that  their  lord  paramount  is 
a  member  of  the  Can  (serpent)  dynasty.  The  whole 
tableau  recalls  vividly,  that  presented  by  the  kneel- 
ing beaked  nosed  personages  in  attendance  at  the 
shrine  of  the  bird  deity  at  Kioto. 

Mr.  Angrand,  the  well  known  French  archaeolo- 


108  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

gist,  finds,  and  with  reason,  a  coincidence  between 
these  sculptures  and  those  of  Central  America,  hav- 
ing a  corresponding  symbolical  significance.  In 
them  he  sees  the  proof  of  the  identity  of  origin,  of 
the  intimate  relationship  of  the  builders  of  Tiahua- 
nuco  and  those  of  Palenque,  Ocosingo,  and  Xochi- 
calco.  He  might  have  added,  and  be  nearer  to  the 
truth,  those  of  the  cities  of  Mayax,  that  were 
founded  many  centuries  before  those  mentioned  by 
him. 

In  Mayax,  it  is  where,  indeed,  the  image  of  the 
serpent,  as  a  symbol,  is  most  commonly  met  with. 
We  see  it  on  almost  every  edifice  in  every  city.  It 
is  one  of  the  favorite  ornaments,  especially  at 
Chichen-Itza,  of  which  place  it  seems  to  have  been 
the  particular  protecting  genius.  There  it  is  found 
everywhere.  It  guards  the  entrance  of  all  public 
edifices.  It  is  at  the  foot  of  their  grand  stair- 
ways, as  if  defending  the  ascent.  The  columns 
that  support  their  porticos  are  representations  of 
it.  Its  head  forms  the  base,  its  body  the  shaft. 
The  nobles  and  other  personages  of  high  rank  wore 
adornments  made  in  the  shape  of  serpents.  Chi- 
chen  may  indeed  be  called  the  "  City  of  Serpents  " 
par  excellence.  If  we,  therefore,  wish  to  know  the 
true  meaning  of  the  serpent  as  a  symbol,  if  we  de- 
sire to  inquire  as  to  the  motives  that  led  to  its  wor- 
ship, it  is  necessary  to  question  the  learned  priests 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  109 

of  that  city;  to  consult  the  books  in  which  the  phi- 
losophers of  Mayax  have  consigned  their  knowledge 
and  their  esoteric  doctrines. 

The  origin  of  the  "  Serpent  Worship  "  they  tell  us, 
can  be  traced  to  two  apparently  distinct  causes. 
One,  the  esoteric,  taught  only  to  a  few  select  of 
those  initiated  in  the  greater  mysteries,  is  the 
homage  to  be  tributed  by  the  creature  to  the  Crea- 
tor. The  other,  the  exoteric,  inculcated  on  the  un- 
initiated, was  the  love  of  the  country,  and  the  re- 
spect due  by  the  subjects  to  their  rulers,  living 
images  and  vicars  of  the  Deity  on  earth. 

In  order  to  comprehend  the  first,  or  esoteric,  we 
must  recall  to  mind  that  Eusebius  says  that  the 
Eygptians  represented  emblematically  Kneph  the 
Creator,  and  the  world  also,  under  the  figure  of  a 
serpent,  which,  Horapollo  asserts,  was  of  a  blue 
color  with  yellow  scales;  but  they  fail  to  inform  us 
as  to  what  may  have  been  their  motives  for  thus 
symbolizing  the  First  Cause;  or  from  whom  they 
had  received  this  symbol,  that  was  the  same  used  by 
the  Mayas.  A  clue  to  this  mystery  can  no  doubt 
be  found  in  the  cosmogonical  notions  prevalent 
among  the  ancient  civilized  nations;  for,  strange 
to  say,  they  seem  to  have  been  alike  with  all. 
We  read  in  the  Manava-dharma-sastra  that  the 
visible  universe  in  the  beginning  was  nothing  but 
darkness.  Then  the  great,  self-existing  Power  dis- 


110  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

pelled  that  darkness,  and  appeared  in  all  His  splen- 
dor. He  first  produced  the  waters;  and  on  them 
moved  Narayana  the  divine  spirit. 

Berosus,  recounting  the  ancient  legend  of  the 
creation  according  to  the  Chaldeans,  says:  "  In  the 
beginning  all  was  darkness  and  water;  and  therein 
were  generated  monstrous  animals  and  strange  and 
peculiar  forms.  .  .  A  woman  rule th  them  all. " 
Her  name  in  Chaldee  is  Thalath,  in  Greek  Thalassa 
(the  sea),  that  is  in  Maya  Thallac  (a  thing  without 
steadiness). 

Genesis  recounts  that:  "In  the  beginning  the 
Earth  was  without  form  and  void;  and  darkness  was 
upon  the  face  of  the  deep,  and  the  spirit  of  God 
moved  upon  the  face  of  the  water.  And  God  said, 
Let  there  be  light  and  there  was  light." 

In  Primander,  that  modern  critics  consider  the 
most  ancient  and  authentic  of  the  first  philosophical 
books  of  Egypt,  attributed  to  Hermes  Trismegistus, 
in  the  dialogue  between  TJioth  and  Primander,  the 
Supreme  Intelligence,  we  read  these  words  of  Thoth. 
"  I  had  then  before  my  eyes  a  most  prodigious  spec- 
tacle. All  things  had  resolved  themselves  into 
light.  A  marvellous,  pleasing  and  seducing  sight  it 
was  to  contemplate.  It  filled  me  with  delight.  After 
a  while  a  horrid  shadow,  which  ended  in  oblique 
folds,  and  assumed  a  humid  nature,  agitated  itself 
with  terrific  noise.  From  it  escaped  smoke  with 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  Ill 

uproar,  and  a  voice  was  heard  above  the  din.  It 
seemed  as  the  voice  of  the  light;  and  the  verb  came 
forth  from  that  voice  of  light;  that  verb  was  car- 
ried upon  the  humid  principle.  Out  of  it  came 
forth  the  fire  pure  and  light,  and  rising,  it  was  lost 
in  the  air  that,  spirit-like,  occupies  the  intermediate 
space  between  the  water  and  the  fire.  The  earth 
and  the  water  were  so  mixed  that  the  surface  of  the 
Earth  covered  by  the  water  appeared  nowhere." 

And  in  what  are  termed  the  modern  Hermetic 
books,  the  origin  of  things  is  thus  explained:  "  The 
principle  of  all  things  existing  is  God,  and  the  intel- 
lect, and  nature,  and  matter,  and  energy,  and  fate, 
and  conclusion,  and  renovation.  For  there  were 
boundless  darkness  in  the  abyss,  and  water,  and  a 
subtile  spirit,  intellectual  in  power,  existing  in 
chaos.  But  the  holy  light  broke  forth,  and  the  ele- 
ments were  produced  from  among  the  sand  of  a 
watery  essence." 

In  the  Popol-  Vuh,  the  sacred  book  of  the  Quiches, 
we  read:  "  This  is  the  recital  of  how  everything  was 
without  life,  calm  and  silent,  all  was  motionless  and 
quiet;  void  was  the  immensity  of  the  heavens;  the 
face  of  the  Earth  did  not  manifest  itself  yet;  only 
the  tranquil  sea  was,  and  the  space  of  the  heavens. 
All  was  immobility  and  silence  in  the  darkness,  in 
the  night;  only  the  Creator,  the  Maker,  the  Domi- 
nator,  the  Serpent  covered  with  feathers,  they  who 


112  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

engender,  they  who  create,  were  on  the  waters  as  an 
ever  increasing  light.  They  are  surrounded  by  green 
and  blue,  their  name  is  Gucumatz." 

We  have  already  said  how  the  Maya  sages  have 
taken  care  to  perpetuate  their  cosmogonical  concep- 
tions, by  causing  the  narrative  of  the  creation  to  be 
carved,  in  high  relief,  over  the  doorway  of  the  east 
fagade  of  the  palace  at  Chichen-Itza,  and  that  these 
conceptions  were  identical  with  those  of  the  Hindoos 
and  the  Egyptians.  It  cannot  be  argued  that  this 
identity  of  ideas  about  the  origin  of  things,  arrived 
at  by  the  wise  men  of  India,  Egypt,  and  Mayax, 
and  expressed  in  as  nearly  the  same  words  as  the 
genius  of  the  vernacular  of  these  various  countries 
admits,  is  purely  accidental;  or,  that  they  have  ar- 
rived separately  at  the  same  conclusions  on  the  sub- 
ject, without  communicating  one  with  the  other. 
The  notion  and  its  explanation  must  have  originated 
with  one,  and  been  taught  to  the  others  just  as  our 
modern  scientific  discoveries,  or  religious  beliefs, 
are  carried  from  country  to  country,  even  the  most 
remote,  and  made  known  to  their  inhabitants. 
What  should  we  think  of  the  man  who  would  pre- 
tend that  the  railway,  electric  telegraph,  and  many 
other  of  the  latest  inventions,  instead  of  having 
originated  in  one  particular  country,  nay,  more,  in 
the  brain  of  a  particular  man,  have  sprung  simulta-  • 
neously  among  all  the  various  nations  which  make 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  113 

use  of  them  ?  Would  not  that  man  be  regarded  as 
a  born  idiot  or  a  fit  subject  for  a  lunatic  asylum  ? 
We  can  easily  understand  how  these  cosmogonical 
notions  have  passed  from  the  Egyptians  to  the 
Chaldees  or  to  the  Hindoos  or  vice  versa;  but  who 
brought  them  to  the  " Lands  of  the  West"  and 
when  ?  Who  can  say  they  did  not  arise  among  the 
inhabitants  of  the  "  Western  continent;  "  and  were 
not  conveyed  by  them  to  the  other  nations  ? 

In  my  work  "The  Monuments  of  Mayax,"  I 
have  shown  how  the  legends  accompanying  the 
images  of  several  of  the  Egyptian  deities,  when 
interpreted  by  means  of  the  Maya  language,  point 
directly  to  Mayax  as  the  birthplace  of  the  Egyp- 
tian civilization.  How  the  ancient  Maya  hieratic 
alphabet,  discovered  by  me,  is  as  near  alike  to 
the  ancient  hieratic  alphabet  of  the  Egyptians 
as  two  alphabets  can  possibly  be,  forcing  upon  us 
the  conclusion  that  the  Mayas  and  the  Egyptians 
either  learned  the  art  of  writing  from  the  same 
masters,  or  that  the  Egyptians  learned  it  from  the 
Mayas.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the 
cosmogonical  conceptions,  so  widely  spread,  origi- 
nated with  the  Mayas,  and  were  communicated  by 
them  to  all  the  other  nations  among  which  we  find 
their  name. 

An  analysis  of  the  tableau  of  creation,  carved  on 
the  fagade  of  the  palace  at  Chichen-Itza,  cannot  fail, 


114  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

therefore,  to  prove  interesting.  In  it  we  shall  find  a 
proof  of  the  scientific  attainments  of  its  designers; 
and  also  the  reason  why  the  serpent  came  to  be 
worshiped  all  over  the  Earth. 

The  philosophers  of  Mayax  must  have  known. 
that  the  waters  cover  the  greatest  part  of  the  globe 
(about  three  fifths);  and  that  water  being  a  com 
bination  of  gases  (oxygen  and  hydrogen),  the  most 
subtile  of  fluids,  must  have  been  the  first  form  of 
matter  produced.  This  is  why  on  each  side  and  on 
the  top  of  the  tableau  they  placed  the  symbol  of 


water  >>  taking  care  to  leave  without  it, 

at  the  upper  part,  a  portion  equal  to  two-fifths  of  its 
length.  In  the  midst  of  the  waters  they  represented 
the  figure  of  an  egg,  that  is  a  germ.  Why  an  egg 
and  not  any  other  seed  ?  Is  it  because  their  study 
of  physiology  had  made  them  acquainted  with 
the  fact,  that  no  being  exists  on  Earth,  but  that  is 
born  from  an  egg  ?  They  represented  the  egg  emit- 
ting rays.  The  rays  of  the  light  into  which  says 
Thoth,  all  things  resolved  themselves;  that,  says 
the  Quiche,  author  of  the  Popol-Vuh,  appeared  on 
the  water  as  an  increasing  brightness  that  bathed 
the  Creator,  the  feathered  serpent,  the  Kneph,  as 
the  Egyptians  would  name  it,  in  green  and  azure. 
It  is  well  to  notice  that  the  symbols  of  water  termi- 
nate with  the  head  of  serpents;  because  they  com- 
pared the  waves  of  the  ocean  to  the  undulations  of 


MOSS    TYPE. 


THE  MAYAS  AND    THE  QUICHES.  115 

the  serpent's  body  while  in  motion.  For  this  rea- 
son the  Mayas  named  the  sea  Canah,  the  great,  the 
powerful  serpent:  and  in  the  Troano  MS.,  the  sea  is 
always  designated  by  a  serpent's  head.  This  ex- 
plains why  the  Quiches,  the  Mayas,  the  Egyptians, 
the  Hindoos,  represented  the  world,  and,  by  exten- 
sion, the  maker  of  it,  as  a  serpent.  Thus  it  is  that 
they  placed  a  serpent  within  the  egg,  behind  the 
creator  to  indicate  that  this  symbol  is  the  totem  of 
the  ancestor  of  all  beings.  And  here  we  have  one 
of  the  origins  of  the  serpent  worship:  that  is,  the 
adoration  of  the  Creator. 

In  Egypt  the  goddess  Uati,  the  genius  of  the 
lower  country,  is  at  times  represented  as  a  serpent 
with  inflated  breast,  the  body  standing  erect  over  a 
basket  or  sieve,  the  lower  part  resting  against  a  fig- 
ure resembling  our  numeral  8.  At  times  again,  as 
a  winged  serpent,  with  inflated  breast,  wearing  on 
its  head  a  cap  or  crown  of  peculiar  shape,  that  it 


FIG.  1.  FIG.  '2. 

is  said  to  be  the  crown  of  lower  Egypt.  Why  the 
Egyptians  selected  such  symbols  to  represent  the 
lower  country,  we  are  not  informed;  and  it  is  doubt- 


116 


SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 


ful  if  the  learned  Egyptologists  could  explain  the 
motive. 

Now  it  is  a  most  remarkable  fact,  that  these  are 
the  very  symbols  used  by  the  Maya  hierogramma- 
tists  and  artists  to  figure  their  own  motherland, 
the  Maya  empire. 

The  author  of  the  Troano  MS.,  sometimes  pic- 
tures Mayax  as  a  serpent  with  an  inflated  breast 
(Plate.  XVII.,  Part  II.),  at  other  times  as  a  serpent 
with  part  of  the  body  bent  in  the  shape  of  the  Yuca- 
tan peninsula,*  and  the  artists  who  executed  the 


*  An  interpretation  of  the  Maya  legend  explanatory  of  the  il- 
lustration may  not  be  amiss,  inasmuch  as  it  shows  that  the  ser- 
peant  was  the  symbol  of  the  country. 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  117 

paintings  in  the  funereal  chamber  of  Prince  Coh, 
typified  the  country  as  a  winged  serpent,  with  the 
back  painted  green,  the  belly  yellow,  wearing  a 
blue  crown  on  the  head,  its  tail  ending  with  a  pecu- 
liar dart  resembling  in  general  contour  the  southern 
continent  of  America. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  give  minute  explanations 
of  these  symbols  which  I  have  considered  in  another 
work,  I  simply  wish  to  consign  here  such  facts  as  can- 
not be  attributed  altogether  to  hazard.  So  the  pecu- 
liar twist  against  which  rests  the  body  of  the  serpent, 
emblem  of  the  lower  country,  is  exactly  the  same  that 
forms  the  symbol  /?~:\N3>^""Q  use(^  *n  ^e  Troano 
MS.,  to  represent  ^^SsG^o  ^ne  ^^  °^  Mexico 
and  the  Caribbean  sea,  whose  waters  bathe  the 

Beginning  at  the  top  of  the  column,  it  reads  as  follows: 


Ahau  Eb        Kan         cib       Lamat 

A-ha-u         Heb    Kanaan      cib      Lam-a-ti 
that  is  literally:  He-water-Basin  turn  abundant  fluid  submerge 

the  land. 

Freely  translated, 

The  Master  of  the  basin  of  water  turns  it:  abundant  fluid  sub- 
merges the  land. 

A  glance  at  the  illustration  will  suffice  to  show  that  the  interpre- 
tation is  correct.  In  my  work  "  The  Monuments  of  Mayax,"  etc., 
I  give  a  more  complete  explanation  of  it. 


118  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

peninsula  of  Yucatan,  that  seems  as  if  standing 
erect  between  them  as  the  serpent  in  the  Egyptian 


sign.  As  to  the  sieve,  it  is  called,  by  the  natives  of 
that  country,  MAYAB.  Mayab  was,  in  past  ages, 
one  of  the  names  of  the  peninsula.  The  crown 
of  Lower  Egypt  ^  ,  is  precisely  that  worn  by 
certain  chieftains,  V^*-i  whose  portraits  we  see  in 
the  bas-reliefs  at  \T^  Chichen-Itza.  There  the 
peak  was  worn  in  front;  in  Egypt  at  the  back:  may 
be  as  a  mark  of  respect  on  the  part  of  the  Egyp- 
tians toward  their  mother  country,  to  signify  that 
as  the  child,  Egypt  must  stand  behind  its  parent,  as 
it  is  customary  for  children  to  do  among  the  aborig- 
ines of  Yucatan. 

Since  the  Egyptians  and  the  Mayas  used  iden- 
tical signs  as  symbols  of  the  country  in  which 
they  lived,  may  it  not  be  inferred  that  the  same 
cause  prompted  their  selection  ?  We  must  not  lose 
sight  of  the  fact  that  the  winged  serpents  intro- 
duced into  the  paintings  of  Egypt,  are  merely  em- 
blematic representations  connected  with  the  mys- 


MOSS   TYPE, 


MOSS    ENG.    CO.,    N.  Y 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  119 

terious  rites  of  the  dead,  and  the  mode  of  being  in 
Amenti;  that  is,  in  the  " Lands  of  the  West" 
where  the  souls  of  the  departed  were  supposed  to  re- 
turn and  exist,  after  being  liberated  from  their 
mortal  body.  In  early  days  Uati  or  Mati,  the  coun- 
try of  Mayax,  was  one  of  the  divinities,  worshiped 
by  the  settlers  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile;  and  the 
asp,  not  any  other  snake,  played  a  conspicuous  part 
in  the  religious  mysteries,  and  was  universally 
honored. 

Here,  again,  we  may  ask  why?  What  possible 
relation  can  exist  between  the  asp  and  the  coun- 
try; between  the  asp  and  the  office  of  king  or 
the  attributes  of  Deity  ?  Still  it  was  the  badge  of 
royalty,  worn  as  an  ornament  on  the  head-dress  of 
kings  and  gods.  Is  the  selection  of  the  asp  as  a 
mark  of  distinction  to  be  ascribed  to  a  mere  whim  ? 
May  not  that  predilection  be  assigned  to  the  fact 
that,  when  angry,  it  dilates  its  breast;  and  when  in 
that  condition  it  recalled  to  the  minds  of  the  colo- 
nists, the  geographical  contours  of  the  land  of  their 
forefathers  in  the  West,  and  the  way  it  was  rep- 
resented in  the  books,  from  which  they  had  studied 
in  their  childhood  ?  If  we  look  at  a  map  of  the 
Western  continent,  it  will  be  easy  to  perceive  that 
the  contours  of  Central  America — that  is  the  Maya 
empire  of  old — figure  a  serpent  with  an  inflated 
breast,  in  a  position  similar  to  that  of  the  em- 


120 


SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 


blem  of  lower  Egypt  (Figs.  1  and  2,  p.  115.),  the 
head  being  the  peninsula  of  Yucatan,  anciently 
the  seat  of  the  government;  and  that  the  south- 
ern continent  would  he  the  dart  of  its  tail,  as 
pictured  by  the  Maya  artists.  The  green  color  of 


its  back,  the  verdant,  tropical  forests  that  cover  the 
land;  the  yellow  belly,  the  internal  volcanic  fires, 
that  cause  the  surface  to  wriggle  like  a  serpent;  the 
blue  crown  on  its  head,  the  blue  canopy  of  heaven 
above;  the  wings,  the  smoke  of  the  volcanoes; 
the  fins,  the  high  peaks  of  the  chain  of  mountains 
that  traverses  the  country  from  north  to  south,  part 
of  the  Cordilleras,  that  are  as  the  backbone  of  the 
continent. 
The  intense  love  of  their  country  is  one  of  the 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  121 

most  striking  characteristics  of  the  aborigines  to 
the  present  day.  That  love  may  be  said  to 
amount  to  fanaticism.  In  it  we  find  another  ori- 
gin of  the  serpent  worship,  emblem  of  the  mother- 
land. 

In  the  Serpent  mantra,  in  the  Aytareya  Brah- 
mana,  a  passage  speaks  of  the  Earth  as  the  Sarpa 
Rajni,  the  queen  of  the  serpents,  and  the  mother 
of  all  that  moves,  still  worshiped  by  the  Nayas, 
dwellers  in  the  valley  of  Cashmere. 

In  Mayax  the  primitive  rulers  derived  their  title 
CAN  (serpent)  from  the  shape  of  the  contours  of  their 
empire,  as  the  priests  of  the  sun  received  theirs 
from  the  name  Kin  of  that  luminary.  Their  emblem 
however,  was  not  a  winged  serpent,  with  a  dart  at 
the  end  of  the  tail,  but  a  rattlesnake  covered  with 
feathers;  image  of  the  feathered  mantle  used  by  the 
king,  the  high-pontiff,  and  other  high  dignitaries,  as 
ceremonial  dress.  This  feathered  rattlesnake  adorns 
the  walls  of  the  royal  mansions.  It  is  seen  at  Ux- 
mal,  on  the  east  fagade  of  the  west  wing  of  king 
Can's  palace  and  at  other  places.  After  their  death 
these  rulers,  images  of  Deity  on  earth,  received 
the  honors  of  apotheosis.  They  became  gods  and 
goddesses  and  were  worshiped  as  such.  In  Assyria 
the  symbol  of  the  winged  serpent  was  replaced  by 
that  of  the  winged  circle,  emblem  of  Asshur,  the 
supreme  deity  of  the  Assyrians;  and  this  symbol  is 


122  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

seldom  found  in  the  sculptures  except  in  imme- 
diate connection  with  the  monarch.  It  seems  to 
be  also  closely  related  with  the  sacred  or  symbolical 
tree. 

Here  again,  is  another  origin  of  "  Serpent  Wor- 
ship," in  that  of  the  kings  of  Mayax  under  the  sym- 
bol of  the  " feathered  serpent."  One  of  the  names 
for  rattlesnake,  in  Maya,  is  Ahau-Can,  the  royal 
serpent.  In  the  sculptures  the  king  is  often  repre- 
sented by  this  emblem  with  seven  rattles  at  the  end 
of  the  tail;  seven  having  been  the  number  of  the 
members  of  king  Can's  family.  In  Egypt  the  kings 
and  queens  were  honored  as  gods  after  their  death. 
In  Greece  and  other  countries,  the  heroes  were  deified 
and  worshiped  as  divinities. 

From  all  antiquity  and  by  all  nations,  the  tree 
and  serpent  worship  have  been  so  closely  identified, 
as  to  guarantee  the  inference  that  their  origin  is  the 
same,  although  it  seems  difficult  to  comprehend 
what  possible  analogy  may  exist  between  them, 
without  a  knowledge  of  the  place  where  they  origi- 
nated, of  the  people  that  first  instituted  it,  of  their 
traditions  and  peculiar  notions.  Many  learned  stu- 
dents have  published  the  results  of  their  researches 
on  the  subject.  None,  however,  has  yet  assigned  a 
birthplace  to  the  tree  or  serpent  worship. 

The  late  Mr.  James  Fergusson  tells  us  that  he  is 
inclined  to  believe  that  it  was  in  "the  mud  of 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  123 

the  lower  Euphrates,  among  a  people  of  Turanian 
origin,  and  spread  thence  to  every  country  of  the 
old  world."  This  is  truly  indefinite.  Then  comes 
the  query:  what  about  the  tree  and  serpent  worship 
among  the  inhabitants  of  the  Western  continent  ? 
For  they  also  had  their  sacred  trees;  and  with  them 
as  with  the  natives  of  the  Eastern  world,  the  tree 
was  symbolical  of  eternal  life. 

The  oak  tree  was  dedicated  to  Baal,  the  chief  god 
of  the  Phoenicians  and  other  eastern  nations.  Under 
it  the  Druids  performed  their  most  sacred  rites  in 
honor  of  CEseus,  the  Supreme  Being.  The  ash  was 
venerated  by  the  Scandinavians.  The  inhabitants  of 
the  island  of  Delos  believe  the  gigantic  palm  tree  to 
be  the  favorite  production  of  Latona.  The  people 
of  Samos,  Athens,  Dodona,  Arcadia,  worshiped  in 
sacred  groves,  as  those  of  Canaan.  In  India  the 
worship  of  the  tree  is  of  very  ancient  date,  as  in  the 
island  of  Ceylon:  in  the  courtyard  of  every  monas- 
tery a  bo-tree  (ficus  Indicus)  is  planted.  Nowhere, 
however,  do  we  find  the  origin  of  that  worship 
mentioned. 

Mr.  Fergusson  advises  us  to  look  to  the  Egyp- 
tians, these  being  the  most  ancient  civilized  people, 
for  an  explanation  of  it,  averring  that  it  undoubt- 
edly prevailed  among  them  before  the  multifari- 
ous Theban  pantheon  was  elaborated.  In  Egypt 
the  tamarisk  was  the  holy  tree  chosen  to  over- 


124  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

shadow  the  supposed  sepulchre  of  Osiris,  the  king 
of  Amenti.  The  persea  was  sacred  to  Athor,  the 
regent  of  the  West,  often  identified  with  Isis.  The 
sycamore  was  consecrated  to  Nut,  mother  of  Isis 
and  Osiris,  frequently  represented  in  the  paintings 
of  the  tombs,  standing  in  its  branches,  pouring 
from  a  vase,  a  liquid  which  the  soul  of  the  departed, 
under  the  form  of  a  bird  with  a  human  head,  catches 
in  his  hands.  It  is  the  water  of  eternal  life.  So 
the  trees  were  particularly  sacred  to  the  deities  con- 
nected with  Amenti,  that  is,  to  the  deified  kings  and 
queens  from  the  "  Lands  of  the  West." 

We  are  told  that  the  sacred  tree  was  an  emblem 
found  in  frequent  association  with  the  "  winged  cir- 
cle "  in  Assyria.  As  this  symbol  is  always  met 
with  in  immediate  connection  with  the  monarchs,  it 
would  seem  that  the  worship  of  the  tree  bears  a 
close  relation  to,  if  it  is  not  typical  of,  that  of  the 
deified  heroes  and  kings. 

To  understand  the  relationship  between  the  tree, 
the  winged  serpent  or  " circle"  and  the  "  mon- 
archs" it  is  again  necessary  to  consult  the  annals 
left  carved  in  stone  or  written  in  their  books  by  the 
wise  men  of  Mayax.  From  them  we  learn  that 
the  Mayas  held  certain  trees  sacred,  Landa,  Cogol- 
ludo,  and  other  early  writers  tell  us  that,  even  as 
far  down  as  the  time  of  the  Spanish  conquest,  the 
aborigines  believed  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 


MOSa    ENQ,    CO..    N.  Y 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  125 

that  would  be  rewarded  or  punished  in  the  life  be- 
yond the  grave,  for  its  deeds  whilst  in  the  body. 
Their  reward  was  to  consist  in  dwelling  in  a  delect- 
able place,  where  pain  was  unknown,  where  there 
would  be  an  abundance  of  delicious  food,  which  they 
would  enjoy,  with  eternal  repose,  in  the  cool  shade 
beneath  the  evergreen  and  spreading  branches  of 
the  yaxche  (ceiba  tree),  which  is  found  planted, 
even  to-day,  in  front  of  the  main  entrance  of  the 
churches,  throughout  Yucatan  and  Central  America. 
Sometimes  the  churches  are  built  in  the  midst  of 
groves  of  ceiba  trees,  that  in  some  localities  are  re- 
placed by  the  gigantic  palm  tree  (Palma  real). 

The  Maya  empire  was  of  old,  according  to  the  au- 
thor of  the  Troano  MS.,  figured  as  a  tree,  planted 
in  the  continent  known  to-day  as  South  America, 
its  principal  branch  being  formed  by  the  Yucatecaii 
peninsula.  (See  map,  page  120.)  Here  we  have  the 
key  to  the  origin  of  the  tree  worship,  and  its  intimate 
relation  to  the  winged  serpent  and  the  king.  It  is 
again  the  worship  of  the  country  symbolized  by  a 
tree,  as  it  also  was  by  a  serpent,  or  by  the  Ruler. 
Thus  we  find  a  natural  explanation  of  the  tradition 
current  among  the  ancient  nations,  that  the  TREE 
par  excellence,  the  tree  of  life,  that  is  of  civilization, 
of  knowledge,  was  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  land, 
of  the  garden,  of  the  primitive  country  (Mayax) 
of  the  race;  the  empire  of  the  Mayas  being  placed 


126 


SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 


between  the  two  great  continents,  North  and  South 
America,  forming  the  "  Lands  of  the  West."  * 


*  The  legend  reads  commencing  from  the  top  of  the  left  hand 
column — 

Can  Ahau  Cimen     eb  for  heb       Ezanab         Kan 

forcing  its  earthquake  has  risen 
way 


the  King  dead 

master  of  the  basin 
of  water 


(beginning  again  at  the  top  of  the  second  column) 


EO 

Can 


oc 

foot 


cib 


ik 


lamat 


sank     air — wind      filled  up    crater — or  bosom 

of  the  volcanoes 


uac        luumildb       umukan         can       kak-mul      Timanik 
six        fertile  lands       umukan          four         volcano         Timanik 

Freely  translated  : 

Can,  the  master  of  the  basin  of  water,  who  was  dead,  forcing 
his  way  by  means  of  the  earthquake,  has  risen.      Can's  foot  sank, 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  127 

This  relation  of  the  tree,  the  serpent  and  the 
country  in  the  middle  of  the  World,  is  confirmed  by 
the  Chinese  writers,  commentators  on  the  Chou- 
Jcing,  one  of  the  most  ancient  literary  monuments 
of  China.  Speaking  of  the  Tien-Hoang  or  kings  of 
heaven,  Yong-chi  says:  Tien-hoang  had  the  body 
of  a  serpent.  He  was  the  origin  of  letters.  He 
gave  names  to  the  ten  KAN,  and  to  the  twelve  Tchi, 
in  order  to  determine  the  place  of  the  year;  and 
Yuen-leao-fan,  another  writer,  says  that  KAN  means 
the  trunk  of  a  tree,  and  that  TCHI  are  the  branches, 
reason  why  they  are  called  CHE-CULL-TSE,  the  twelve 
children.  It  is  well  to  remark  here  that  the  chil- 
dren of  king  Can  were  called  CAN-CHI,  which  is 
still  a  family  name  among  the  aborigines. 

TI-HUANG,  king  of  the  Earth,  is  also  called  Hoang- 
kiun,  that  is,  he  who  reigns  sovereignly  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  earth,  and  also  TSE-YUEN,  or  the  son  prin- 
ciple, the  engendered,  the  Brahma  of  the  Hindoos, 


the  air  having  filled  up  the  crater  of  the  volcano.  Six  fertile 
lands  have  appeared  in  Umukan  (Cuba)  and  four  volcanoes  in 
Timanik  (one  of  the  small  Antilles.) 

The  May  a  writers,  as  the  author  of  the  Troano,  etc,,  sometimes 
represented  the  Earth  under  the  figure  of  an  old  woman  and 
called  it  mam — the  grandmother.  She  is  here  represented  hold- 
ing in  her  left  hand  the  sign  of  the  smoke,  and  darting  a  jave- 
lin emblem  of  the  volcanic  energy,  and  in  her  right  hand  she 
holds  the  symbol  of  the  "Land  of  the  Scorpion"  "  Zinaan"  the 
West  India  Islands  of  our  days.  The  deer  head  represents  the 
Maya  Empire. 


128  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

the  Kneph  of  the  Eygptians,  the  Mehen  of  tiie 
Mayas. 

The  cross  is  another  sacred  symbol  much  rever- 
enced by  all  nations,  civilized  and  semi-civilized, 
ages  before  the  establishment  of  Christianity:  and 
although  we  find  representations  of  it  in  almost 
every  part  of  the  world,  from  its  mere  delineation 
scratched  on  the  rock,  to  the  stately  temples  and 
admirably  hewn  caves  of  Elephanta  in  India,  still 
nowhere  do  we  learn  of  its  origin.  There  are 
several  varieties  of  crosses,  but  all  may  be  traced 
back  to  the  primitive  form  which  resembles  the 
Latin  cross. 

Among  the  earliest  type  known  on  the  Eastern 
continents  is  the  "  Cruz  Ansata,"  called  the  "  Key 
of  the  Nile."  It  was  the  " symbol  of  symbols" 
among  the  Egyptians,  the  Phoenicians  and  the 
Chaldees,  being  the  emblem  of  the  life  to  come.  It 
was  placed  on  the  breast  of  the  deceased,  sometimes 
as  a  simple  T  on  the  fulcrum  of  a  cone;  sometimes 
represented  as  supported  on  a  heart.  It  is  also  seen 
adorning  the  breasts  of  statues  and  statuettes  in 
Palenque,  Copan,  and  other  ancient  cities  of  Guate- 
mala, Nicaragua,  and  various  localities  of  Central 
America.  Everywhere  it  was  associated  with  water. 
In  Babylon  it  was  the  emblem  of  water  deities.  In 
Egypt,  Assyria,  and  Britain,  it  was  emblematical  of 
creative  power  and  eternity.  In  India,  China,  and 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  129 

Scandinavia  of  heaven  and  immortality.  In  Mayax 
of  rejuvenescence  and  freedom  from  physical  suffer- 
ing. The  cross,  as  a  symbol,  was  placed  on  the 
breast  of  the  initiate  after  his  new  birth  was  accom- 
plished in  the  Bacchic  and  Eleusinian  mysteries. 

Remesal  and  Torquemada  assert,  in  their  respec- 
tive works,  that  when  in  1519,  the  Spaniards,  under 
Hernan  Cortez,  landed  at  the  island  of  Cozumel, 
they  found  crosses  which  the  natives  worshiped  as 
gods  in  their  temples.  After  them  many  writers, 
on  their  authority,  have  affirmed  the  same  thing. 
This,  however,  seems  to  have  been  a  mistake.  Ber- 
nal  Diaz  del  Castillo,  who  accompanied  Cortez,  does 
not  mention  the  existence  of  such  symbols  in  Cozu- 
mel, but  emphatically  says  that  Cortez,  having  or- 
dered the  destruction  of  the  idols  that  were  in  the 
sanctuaries,  caused  an  image  of  the  Virgin  Mary  to 
be  placed  in  their  stead,  and  near  it  a  wooden  cross, 
made  by  two  of  his  carpenters,  to  be  erected,  rec- 
ommending the  natives  to  take  great  care  of  them 
when  he  left.  Dr.  Pedro  Sanchez  de  Aguilar,  an- 
other of  the  early  writers,  maintains  that  the  stone 
crosses  found  afterward  in  the  island  were  made  in 
imitation  of  that  of  Cortez;  and  Bishop  Landa,  al- 
though a  most  zealous  missionary,  intent  on  con- 
verting the  aborigines  to  the  Catholic  faith,  does 
not  mention  the  existence  of  crosses  in  Cozumel  be- 
fore the  advent  of  the  Spaniards;  a  fact  he  would 
9 


130  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

certainly  have  taken  advantage  of  in  his  predication 
of  the  gospel,  and  would  not  have  failed  to  mention 
in  his  work,  had  he  been  satisfied  that  the  symbol 
really  existed. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  Mayax,  in  very  re- 
mote ages,  the  cross  was  an  emblem  pertaining  to 
the  sacred  mysteries.  No  external  vestiges  of  the 
symbol  are  to  be  found  among  the  remains  of  the 
temples  and  palaces  of  the  Mayas,  such  as  those 
seen  at  Palenque  and  other  places  of  Central  Amer- 
ica. Only  one  image  of  a  perfect  cross  have  I  ever 
met  with  in  the  ancient  edifices  of  Yucatan  besides 
the  ground  plan  of  the  sanctuary  at  Uxmal.  (See 
page  35.)  It  forms  part  of  the  inscription  carved 
on  the  lintel  of  the  doorway  of  the  east  f  agade  of  the 
palace  at  Chichen.  Still  tradition  tells  us  that  the 
cross  was  symbolical  of  the  ' i  God  of  Rain. ' '  If  so, 
they  made  no  image  of  it,  nor  did  they  celebrate 
any  festival  in  honor  of  it  at  the  time  of  the  con- 
quest, but  held  it  simply  as  a  notion  of  their  fore- 
fathers. 

The  ancient  Maya  astronomers  had  observed  that 
at  a  certain  period  of  the  year,  at  the  beginning  of 
our  month  of  May,  that  owes  its  name  to  the  god- 
dess MAYA,  the  good  dame,  mother  of  the  gods,  the 
"Southern  CVoss,"  appears  perfectly  perpendicular 
above  the  line  of  the  southern  horizon.  This  is  why 
the  Catholic  church  celebrates  the  feast  of  the  exal- 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  131 

tation  of  the  holy  cross  on  the  third  day  of  that 
month,  which  it  has  consecrated  particularly  to 
the  Mother  of  God,  the  Good  Lady,  the  virgin  Ma- 
B-ia,  or  the  goddess  Isis  anthropomorphised  by 
Bishop  Cyril  of  Alexandria. 

In  all  localities  situated  within  the  12th  and  23d 
degree  of  latitude  north,  about  the  beginning  of 
January,  the  dry  season  sets  in  and  no  more  rain 
falls  during  several  months.  In  May  and  April  in 
the  countries  like  Yucatan,  where  there  is  no  water 
on  the  surface  of  the  ground,,  all  things  become 
parched;  the  trees  and  shrubs  lose  their  leaves,  na- 
ture looks  desolate,  all  living  beings  thirst  for  a 
drop  of  moisture,  the  birds  and  other  wild  crea- 
tures, mad  with  thirst,  lose  their  characteristic  shy- 
ness and  venture  near  the  haunts  of  man,  imperil- 
ing their  lives  in  search  of  water;  death,  for  want 
of  it,  seems  to  threaten  all  creation. 

But  four  bright  stars  appear  in  the  south.  A 
shining  cross  stands  erect  above  the  southern  hori- 
zon. It  is  the  heavenly  messenger  that  brings  good 
tidings  to  all,  for  it  announces  that  the  flood-gates 
of  heaven  soon  shall  be  open;  that  the  so  longed  for 
rain  will  shortly  descend  from  on  high,  and  with 
it  joy  and  happiness,  new  life  to  all  creatures. 
Man  hails  with  thankful  heart,  welcomes  with 
songs  of  gladness,  this  brilliant  harbinger  of  the  life 
to  come,  for  indeed  it  is  a  god  for  him,  the  GOD  OF 


132  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

BAIN  that  rejuvenates  nature,  frees  man  and  all 
other  creatures  from  physical  sufferings,  brings 
felicity  to  them — heaven  therefore — and,  with  re- 
newed life,  immortality.  Is  it  not  the  creative 
power  that  is  eternally  renovating  and  revivifying 
all  things  on  the  surface  of  the  earth  ?  Is  it  then 
strange  that  all  nations,  in  every  age,  should  have 
worshiped  the  cross  as  symbol  of  the  life  to  come 
and  immortality,  and  held  it  in  so  great  veneration  ? 
It  must  be  remembered  that  all  the  civilized  nations 
in  the  "  Lands  of  the  West  "  and  in  the  "  Eastern 
Continent,"  dwelt  in  latitudes  where  the  constella- 
tion known  as  "the  Southern  Cross"  is  visible 
during  the  month  of  May,  and  that  the  first  showers 
soon  follow  its  apparition  above  the  horizon.  From 
these  of  course  it  was  transmitted  to  the  others  fur- 
ther north,  that  accepted  the  symbol,  without  under- 
standing its  meaning,  and  in  af  tertimes  many  spec- 
ulations have  been  indulged  in  concerning  its  origin: 
but  the  unsophisticated  natives,  in  the  midst  of 
their  forests  to-day,  rejoice  at  the  sight  of  the 
"  Southern  Cross  "  and  prepare  to  sow  their  fields. 

The  origin  and  meaning  of  the  mystical  T,  that 
symbol  of  "hidden  wisdom"  as  it  has  been  de- 
nominated by  scholars  of  our  days,  found  on  all 
Egyptian  monuments,  in  the  temples,  in  the  hands 
of  the  gods,  in  the  tombs  on  the  breast  of  the  mum- 
mies, also  met  with  in  the  ancient  edifices  of  Mayax, 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  133 

and  on  the  statues  and  altars  in  the  temples  at 
Palenque,  has  given  rise  to  many  speculations  on 
the  part  of  modern  savants.  They  have  not  reached 
yet  any  conclusion,  although  its  name  TAU  says 
plainly,  that  it  is  nothing  more  or  less  than  a  repre- 
sentation of  the  "  God  of  Rain"  the  " Southern 
Cross."  Effectively  tau  is  a  Maya  word  composed 
of  the  three  primitives  ti,  here,  a  for  ha,  water,  and 
u  month,  which  translated  freely  means  "  This  is 
the  month  for  water; "  hence  for  the  resurrection  of 
nature — for  the  new  life  to  come. 

The  complex  form  of  the  mystical  T  which  is 
formed  of  a  cone  with  two  arms  extending,  one 
each  side,  and  an  oval  placed  immediately  above 
them,  has  been  denominated  by  the  Egyptologists 
cruz-ansata.  It  is  not  of  Eygptian  origin.  It  has 
its  prototype  in  the  conoidal  pillar,  surmounted  by 
a  sphere,  used  by  the  Babylonians  as  symbol  of  life 
and  death;  death  being  but  the  beginning  or  nursery 
of  life.  This  emblem  was  only  a  reminiscence  of 
the  yaxche,  the  sacred  tree  of  the  Mayas,  under  the 
roots  of  which,  the  natives  assert,  is  always  to  be 
found  a  source  of  pure  cold  water.  The  trunk  of 
the  yaxche,  from  the  foot  to  the  top,  forms  a  perfect 
cone  from  which  the  main  branches  shoot  in  an 
horizontal  direction.  Its  leafy  top,  seen  from  a  dis- 
tance, presents  the  appearance  of  a  half  sphere  of 
verdure.  The  cone,  the  tau  and  the  cruz-ansata 


134 


SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 


were  for  those  initiated  to  the  mysteries  the  same 
symbol,  emblematical  of  Deity,  of  the  life  to  come, 
of  the  dual  powers,  of  fertility.  The  Mayas  and 
other  peoples  of  Central  America,  in  the  sculptures 
or  paintings,  always  represented  their  sacred  trees 
with  two  branches  shooting  horizontally  from  the 
top  of  the  trunk,  thus  presenting  the  appearance  of 
a  cross  or  tau. 


From  a  Mexican  MS.  in  British  Museum.    (Add.  MS.  b.  m.  9789.) 

In  straying  apparently  so  far  from  the  main  ob- 
ject of  these  pages,  and  tracing  to  their  true  origin 
the  primitive  traditions  of  mankind  and  many 
of  the  religious  symbols  common  to  all  the  civil- 
ized nations  of  antiquity,  by  dispelling  the  mists 
that  have  accumulated  around  them  in  the  long  vista 


THE  AfAYAJS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  135 

of  ages,  my  aim  has  been  to  show  that  they  all 
emanated  from  one  and  the  same  source,  and  that 
this  source  was  the  country  of  Mayax,  in  the 
" Lands  of  the  West."  Ancient  sacred  mysteries, 
have  been  celebrated  in  the  temples  of  Eygpt,  Chal- 
dea,  and  India,  from  ages  so  remote  that  it  is  no 
longer  known  by  whom  or  where  they  were  first 
instituted.  Herodotus  tells  us  that  the  daughters 
of  Danaus  instituted  the  Thesmophoria  in  honor  of 
the  goddess  Ceres,  in  imitation  of  the  mysteries  cele- 
brated in  Egypt  in  honor  of  Isis,  and  taught  them 
to  the  Pelasgic  women.  That  Eumolpus,  king  of 
Eleusis,  instituted  in  his  own  country  the  Eleusinian 
mysteries  on  his  return  from  Egypt,  where  he  had 
been  initiated  by  the  priests  as  Orpheus  who 
founded  in  Thracia  those  that  bear  his  name;  but 
who  taught  the  rites  of  initiation,  the  use  of  the 
symbols  and  their  meaning,  to  the  Hierophants  of 
Egypt,  to  the  magi  of  Chaldea,  to  the  Gymnoso- 
phists  of  India  ? 

The  mode  of  initiation,  the  use  of  the  same  sym- 
bols, with  an  identical  signification  ascribed  to 
them,  by  peoples  living  so  far  apart  whose  customs 
and  manners  were  so  unlike,  whose  religion,  so  far 
at  least  as  external  practices  were  concerned,  dif- 
fered so  widely,  show  that  these  mysteries  origi- 
nated with  one  people,  and  were  carried  to  and 
promulgated  among  the  others.  As  we  do  not  find 


136  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

it  mentioned  anywhere  that  they  originated  either 
with  the  Eygptians,  Chaldees,  or  Hindoos,  and  we 
have  seen  that  their  primitive  traditions  have  been 
derived  from  the  history  of  the  early  rulers  of 
Mayax,  is  it  not  natural  that  we  should  look  for  the 
institution  of  the  mysteries  among  the  Mayas,  since 
we  find  the  same  mysterious  symbols,  used  by  the 
initiates  in  all  the  other  countries,  carved  on  the 
walls  of  the  temples  of  their  gods,  and  the  palaces 
of  their  kings  ?  Their  history  may  afford  the  clue 
to  the  original  meaning  of  said  symbols,  as  their 
language  has  given  us  the  true  signification  of  the 
words  used  by  the  celebrating  priest  to  dismiss  the 
initiates  in  the  Eleusinian  mysteries,  or  by  the 
Brahmins  at  the  end  of  their  religious  ceremonies, 
and  as  it  has  revealed  the  so  long  hidden  mystery 
of  the  mystical  TAU. 

That  sacred  mysteries  were  celebrated  from  times 
immemorial  in  the  temples  of  Mayax,  Xibalba, 
Nachan  (Palenque  of  to-day),  Copan  and  other  places 
of  Central  America  there  can  be  no  doubt,  since 
besides  the  symbols  sculptured  on  the  walls  of  the 
temples  and  palaces,  in  two  distinct  instances,  we 
see  the  rites  and  the  trials  of  initiation  described  in 
the  Popol-Vuh;  and  as  these  rites  and  trials  were 
identical  with  those  to  which  the  applicants  to 
initiation  in  the  mysteries  of  Egypt,  Greece,  Chal- 
dea  and  India  were  subjected,  we  are  justified  in 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  137 

seeking  in  Mayax  for  the  causes  that  may  have  in- 
duced the  founders  of  the  sacred  mysteries  to  select 
the  odd  numbers  3,  5,  and  T,  instead  of  the  even  2, 
4,  and  6  for  mystic  numbers. 

The  symbolization  of  number  3  may  possibly  be 
accounted  for  in  two  different  ways.  One  is  sug- 
gested by  the  sceptre  of  Poseidon,  that  Plato  says 
was  the  first  king  of  Atlantis,  and  is  represented  by 
the  Greek  mythologists  as  being  a  son  of  Kronos; 
his  three-pronged  trident  being  an  allusion  to  the 
three  great  islands  that  formed  his  kingdom, 
North  and  South  America  and  Atlan,  that  now  lies 
buried  under  the  waves  of  the  Atlantic  ocean. 


The  emblem 
god  of  the 
mythology, 


placed  in  the  hands  of  Vul  the 
atmosphere  in  the  Chaldean 
found  also  in  those  of  the  Hin- 


doo gods,  may  likewise  represent  the 
three  worlds  or  great  regions  that 
the  Egyptian  and  Maya  hierogram- 
matists  designed  by  the  character 
^t^fH  in  the  hieroglyph  for  the 
name  of  the  " Lands  of  the  West," 
which  the  latter  also  figured  as  the 
sacred  tree  with  three  branches,*  a 

*  The  legend  literally  translated  reads  as  follows: 


that  is:    PPeu,  caban  for  cabahaan  has  struck  again — bat — ax. 
Freely  translated:  PPeu  has  struck  again  the  tree  with  his  ax. 


138  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

simile  of  which  we  find  in  Scandinavia,  in  the  three 
roots  of  the  sacred  ash  Yggdrasil,  mystic-world 
tree,  and  the  three  heavens,  and  the  three  worlds 
whose  destruction,  by  water,  was  prophesied  by 
Vishnu.  The  deification  of  the  "  World"  com- 
posed of  three  parts  forming  a  great  whole,  may 
have  been  the  origin  of  the  Trimourti,  or  Triune 
god,  so  prevalent  among  the  ancient  nations  of 
antiquity,  and  probably  led  to  the  mystification 
of  number  3.  We  find  it  symbolized  all  over  the 
earth,  in  every  nation.  We  see  it  in  Mayax  in 
the  three  platforms  on  which  are  raised  the  most 
ancient  edifices ;  in  the  three  rooms  that  formed 
the  temple  where  the  mysteries  were  performed ; 
in  the  three  steps  that  led  to  the  first  or  lower 
platform  in  all  sacred  edifices ;  in  the  21  metres 
(3x7)  of  all  the  principal  pyramids  in  Yucatan; 
in  the  three  concentric  circles  of  the  Zodiac. 
We  meet  with  it  constantly  in  India,  in  the 
vyahritis  or  three  sacred  words;  the  three  orna- 
ments or  saranas;  the  three  principal  classes;  the 
three  ways  of  salvation;  the  three  fetters  of  the  soul 


PPeu  was  the  name  of  one  of  the  twelve  ancient  rulers  who 
governed  the  country  in  times  anterior  to  the  great  cataclysm 
during  which  the  Atlantic  island  was  submerged.  Deified  after 
his  death  he  became  one  of  the  protecting  genii  of  the  land, 
whose  effigies  still  adorn  the  east  facade  of  the  palace  at  Chichen 
Itza,  where  they  are  placed,  between  the  eyes,  over  the  trunks  of 
the  mastodon's  head,  and  surrounded  with  an  aureola. 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  139 

or  gunas\  the  three  eyes  in  Siva's  forehead;  the 
three  strands  of  the  sacred  cord  worn  by  the  initi- 
ates of  the  three  principal  classes:  the  three  letters 
of  the  sacred  word  A.u.m.  In  Egypt  the  three 
thonged  fiagelum  of  Osiris;  the  triple  phallus  car- 
ried in  procession  at  the  festival  of  the  Paamylia  in 
honor  of  the  birth  of  Osiris,  and  also  the  triads,  as 
likewise  in  Chaldea. 

Another  way  of  accounting  for  the  mystification 
of  number  3,  is  by  taking  heed  of  the  indications  of 
Orpheus,  Plato,  Proclus,  and  the  other  Greek  philoso- 
phers who  had  been  admitted  to  the  participation 
of  the  secrets  communicated  in  the  mysteries  to 
those  worthy  of  being  entrusted  with  them.  They 
tell  us  that  the  three  intellects  of  the  Demiurgos,  of 
the  triple  deity,  were  "  three  kings." 

The  author  of  the  Troaiio  MS., 
relates  at  some  length  the  history 
of  the  three  sons  of  king  Can;  and 
of  the  troubles  that  arose  among 
them  when,  after  the  death  of  their 
father,  the  reins  of  the  government  jr 
fell  into  their  hands.  Of  that  fact  **- 


a  faint  tradition,  very  much  distorted,  seems  to  have 
still  existed  among  the  aborigines  of  Central  Amer- 

*  Symbol  of  the  three  sons  of  King  Can — represented  under  the 
emblem  of  the  three  deer  heads — Uluumil  ceh,  "  the  land  of  the 
deer,"  being  one  of  the  names  of  the  country  of  the  Mayas. 


140  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

ica  at  the  time  of  the  Spanish  conquest;  for  Bishop 
Landa  states:  "  That  is  was  said  that  once  upon  a 
time  three  lords,  brothers,  governed  the  country 
together."  Those  three  brothers,  sons  of  king  Can, 
are  realities,  personages  who  have  certainly  lived  a 
mundane  existence,  since  we  not  only  have  their 
portraits,  their  weapons,  and  their  ornaments,  but 
also  their  mortal  remains.  They  recall  vividly  the 
three  sons  of  Adam,  the  three  sons  of  Seb,  and  the 
three  sons  of  Kronos.  The  author  of  the  Troano 
MS.,  informs  us  that  the  members  of  the  family  of 
king  Can  were  deified  after  their  death,  and  wor- 
shiped in  temples,  the  ruins  of  which  still  exist 
buried  in  the  depths  of  the  forests  of  Yucatan  un- 
der a  shroud  of  verdure.  It  is  not  at  all  improbable 
that  Cay,  the  elder  brother  and  high-pontiff  having 
instituted  with  his  father  the  sacred  mysteries, 
took  as  symbol  of  the  various  degrees  into  which 
they  divided  them,  the  number  of  the  members  of 
their  family,  in  order  to  perpetuate  their  name  and 
history  through  the  coming  ages.  This  explanation 
seems  the  more  plausible,  if  we  remember  that 
Eusebius  tells  us  that  the  Egyptians  represented  the 
supreme  Deity  under  the  shape  of  a  serpent  (Can- 
hel)  that  was  as  superior  to  the  triads,  as  the  father 
is  to  his  children  in  whom  he  rejoices.  "Numero 
Deus  impare  gaudet."  In  this  connection  the  three 
Hoang-ti,  of  Chinese  mythological  times,  might 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  141 

also  be  mentioned.  They  too  had  the  shape  of  ser- 
pents. 

Among  the  ancient  civilized  nations  of  the  east- 
ern continents  number  5  was  also  considered  mys- 
tic. Frequent  mention  is  made  of  it  in  their  sacred 
books.  In  China  it  occupies  a  conspicuous  place 
among  the  celestial  or  perfect  numbers,  as  1,  3,  5,  7, 
9,  are  called  in  the  y-king,  or  Canonical  book  of 
Changes;  a  very  ancient  work,  so  highly  esteemed 
by  the  wise  philosopher  Confucius  (Kong-fou-tse) 
that  he  was  seldom  seen  without  it.  There  we  read 
of  the  five  elements,  water,  fire,  wood,  metal,  and 
earth;  of  the  five  kinds  of  grain;  of  the  five  colors, 
black,  red,  green  or  blue,  yellow  and  white;  of  the 
five  tastes,  salt,  bitter,  sour,  acid,  and  sweet;  of  the 
five  tones  in  music;  of  the  five  relations  of  life  be- 
tween men;  those  between  a  king  and  its  ministers, 
a  father  and  his  children,  a  husband  and  his  wife, 
elder  and  younger  brothers,  and  between  friends;  of 
the  five  virtues,  philanthropy,  uprightness,  decorum, 
prudence,  fidelity;  of  the  five  organs  of  the  body, 
kidneys,  heart,  liver,  lungs,  and  spleen;  of  the  five 
Chang-ti,  or  elementary  generations;  of  the  five 
parts  that  form  the  heavens;  of  the  five  seasons  of 
the  year;  of  the  five  genii  that  govern  the  five  ele- 
ments; of  the  five  principal  mountains  of  the  em- 
pire; of  the  five  tutelary  mountains. 

In  India  number  5  is  also  very  prevalent  in  things 


142  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

pertaining  particularly  to  psychological  concep- 
tions or  religious  observances;  so  they  speak  of  the 
five  organs  of  intelligence,  by  means  of  which  the 
external  objects  are  perceived;  of  the  five  organs 
of  action;  the  five  elements,  the  five  great  obla- 
tions;  of  the  five  great  sacrifices;  the  five  great 
fires,  etc.  In  Mayax  it  was  likewise  a  mystic 
number,  since  we  find  this  simbol  •  •  carved  at 
each  end  of  the  southern  apartment  •  •  in  the  edi- 
fice consecrated  to  the  celebration  of  the  sacred 
mysteries.  It  appears  in  the  number  of  steps  lead- 
ing from  the  courtyards  or  terraces  to  the  principal 
apartments  in  the  " House  of  the  Governor,"  "the 
palace  of  king  Can"  and  other  edifices  at  Uxmal, 
and  in  other  buildings.  It  is  the  number  particularly 
set  apart  for  the  second  of  the  three  platforms  that 
compose  the  base  on  which  all  the  ancient  temples 
and  palaces  of  the  Mayas  are  raised.  In  the  rites  of 
modern  Freemasonry,  it  is  still  the  sacred  number 
related  to  the  second  degree.  In  the  Troano  MS., 
the  legends  of  all  the  compartments  into  which  the 
work  is  divided,  as  in  chapters,  are  composed  of 
five  characters,  to  indicate  that  said  legends  are  the 
headings,  that  is  ho-ol,  the  beginning,  the  head. 

This  number  may  have  become  sacred,  in  the 
mysteries,  among  the  Mayas,  in  remembrance  of 
the  number  of  the  children  of  king  Can;  for  besides 
his  three  sons  Cay,  Aac,  and  Coh,  he  had,  by  his 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  143 

wife  Zoo,  two  daughters,  Moo  and  Nicte,  whose 
names  bear  a  striking  resemblance  to  T-Mau,  one  of 
the  names  of  Isis  and  Nike  her  sister.  So  king 
Can  by  his  wife  Zoo,  had  five  children,  just  as  Seb 
had  by  his  wife  Nut  in  Egypt;  these  being  Aroeris, 
Set,  Osiris,  Isis,  and  Nike.  Strange  coincidence, 
that  may,  however,  give  us  a  knowledge  of  the 
origin  of  the  mystification  of  number  five. 

SEVEN  seems  to  have  been  the  sacred  number  par 
excellence  among  all  civilized  nations  of  antiquity. 
Why  ?  This  query  has  never  been  satisfactorily  an- 
swered. Each  separate  people  has  given  a  different 
explanation,  according  to  the  peculiar  tenets  of 
their  religion.  That  it  was  the  number  of  numbers 
for  those  initiated  to  the  sacred  mysteries  there  can 
be  no  doubt.  Pythagoras,  who  had  borrowed  his 
ideas  on  numbers  from  the  Egyptians,  calls  it  the 
"  Vehicle  of  life,"  containing  body  and  soul,  since 
it  is  formed  of  a  quartenary,  that  is:  Wisdom  and 
Intellect;  and  a  trinity  or  action  and  matter.  Em- 
peror Julian,  in  Matrem  and  in  Oratio,  expresses 
himself  thus:  "  Were  I  to  touch  upon  the  initiation 
into  our  secret  mysteries,  which  the  Chaldees  bac- 
chised,  respecting  the  seven-rayed  god,  lighting  up 
the  soul  through  him,  I  should  say  things  unknown 
to  the  rabble,  very  unknown,  but  well  known  to 
the  blessed  Theurgists." 

Whatever  that  knowledge  may  have  been,  and 


144  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

their  esoteric  explanation  of  the  cause  of  the  mys- 
tification of  number  seven,  can  only  be  surmised  to- 
day; but  it  is  not  improbable  that  it  was  to  be  found 
in  some  event  in  the  early  history  of  the  race  whose 
traditions  we  find  scattered  broadcast  'over  the 
Earth.  We  have  seen  that  the  family  of  king 
Can  was  composed  of  seven  members,  who  became 
rulers  of  the  seven  cities  that  bear  their  names,  the 
ruins  of  which  still  exist  in  the  forests  of  Yucatan, 
and  by  the  beauty  and  richness  of  the  ornamentation, 
the  massiveness  and  finish  of  the  walls  of  their 
temples  and  palaces,  excite  the  admiration  of  the 
beholder.  These  personages,  deified  after  their 
death,  have  been  worshiped  in  various  countries, 
and  are  yet  in  some,  under  different  names.  May 
not  the  remembrance  of  the  existence  of  these  seven 
ancient  rulers  of  Mayax,  have  been  the  origin  of 
the  tradition  of  the  seven  divine  rulers  of  Egypt;  of 
the  seven  Manous  that  according  to  the  Brahmins, 
governed  the  world  in  the  night  of  times;  of  the 
seven  Richis  or  holy  personages  who  assisted  them; 
of  the  seven  princes  of  the  Persian  court;,  and  the 
seven  councillors  of  the  king;  of  the  seven  Ameshas- 
pants  or  first  angels;  of  the  seven  great  gods  of  the 
Assyrians;  or  the  seven  primitive  gods  regarded 
by  the  Japanese  as  their  ancestors  and  said  by  them 
to  have  governed  the  world  during  an  incalculable 
number  of  years;  of  the  seven  Cabiri,  worshiped 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  145 

by  the  Pelasgians  at  Lemnos  and  Samothracia;  the 
seven  great  gods  in  theogony  of  the  Nahuatls  ?  Do 
we  not  see  a  simile  of  the  Ah  Ac  chapat  or  seven- 
headed  serpent  of  the  Mayas,  totem  of  their  seven 
primitive  Rulers,  that  is  of  the  seven  members  of 
king  Can's  family,  in  the  seven-headed  heavenly 
Serpent  on  which  rests  Vishnu,  the  Indian  creator, 
that  corresponds  to  the  Egyptian  KnepJi  or  the 
Mehen  (Canhel)  of  the  Mayas;  or  in  the  seven  serpents 
that  form  the  crown  of  Siva;  or  again  in  the  Seven- 
rayed  god  HeptaJctis,  of  which  the  emperor  Julian 
was  so  reluctant  to  speak  ? 

It  would  seem  that  the  duration  of  certain  relig- 
ious festivals  was  fixed  to  commemorate  the  exist- 
ence on  Earth  of  these  seven  primitive  gods  or  rulers, 
the  tradition  of  which  we  find  in  all  countries 
where  we  meet  with  vestiges  of  the  Mayas.  So  we 
see  the  seven  days  of  the  festival  of  the  Eleusiniaii 
mysteries;  the  seven  days  of  the  festival  in  honor  of 
the  bull  Apis,  a  symbol  of  Osiris;  the  seven  days  of 
the  feast  of  the  tabernacles.  The  septenary  system 
was  also  adopted  for  the  same  purpose  no  doubt, 
in  Mayax,  since  we  find  the  seven  cities  dedicated 
to  each  of  the  members  of  king  Can's  family;  the 
seven  pyramids  that  adorned  the  city  of  Uxmal;  the 
seven  turrets  that  ornamented  the  south  f  agade  of  the 
north  wing  of  king  Can's  palace  at  Uxmal,  each  tur- 
ret inscribed  with  the  name  of  one  of  the  members 
10 


146  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

of  his  family;  those  dedicated  to  the  females  being 
on  the  east  end  of  the  wing.  The  seven  gradients 
into  which  is  divided  the  third  or  uppermost  of  the 
three  platforms  that  serve  as  a  substructure  to  the 
temples  and  palaces;  the  seven  superposed  gradients, 
forming  all  the  pyamids,  calling  to  mind  the  seven 
terraces  of  the  temple  of  the  seven  lights  at  Bor- 
sippa,  the  most  perfect  form  of  Chaldee  "temple 
tower,"  and  the  "  pyramid  degrees  "  at  Sakkara,  al- 
though in  this  Egyptian  pyramid  the  gradients  are 
more  numerous.  The  seven  rooms  built  on  the  west 
side  of  the  conical  mound  that  supports  the  temple 
in  which  the  mysteries  were  performed  at  Uxmal: 
each  room  again  being  dedicated  to  one  of  the 
members  of  king  Can's  family;  the  bust  of  the  per- 
son to  whom  it  was  consecrated  being  affixed  over 
the  doorway.  The  seven  courses  of  the  stones  used 
in  the  construction  of  the  walls  and  of  the  triangu- 
lar arches  that  form  the  ceilings  of  the  rooms.  The 
same  system  prevails  in  the  arrangement  of  the 
grand  gallery  in  the  centre  of  the  great  pyramid  at 
Ghizzeh  in  Egypt.  In  that  monument  as  in  all  the 
antique  edifices  of  Mayax,  the  proportional  scale 
followed  by  the  architects  in  the  drawing  of  their 
plans  is  in  accordance  with  the  numbers  3,  5,  7,  and 
their  multiples. 

The  predilection  of  the  nations  of  antiquity  in 
which  the  sacred   mysteries  were  celebrated,   for 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  147 

number  seven  appears  in  many  ways.  The  seven 
days  that  the  rainfall  that  produced  the  deluge 
lasted,  according  to  the  Chaldeans,  is  reproduced  in 
the  seven  days  of  the  prophesy  of  the  deluge  by 
Vishnu  to  Satyravata,  as  we  read  of  it  in  the 
Bhagavata  purana;  and  the  seven  days  of  the 
prophesy  of  the  same  event,  made  by  the  Lord  to 
Noah,  according  to  Genesis;  on  account  of  the 
seven  days  of  rainfall  the  Babylonian  priests  used 
seven  vases  in  the  sacrifices;  and  in  the  hierarchy  of 
Mazdeism,  the  seven  Marouts  or  genii  of  the  winds; 
the  seven  rounds  of  the  ladder  in  the  cave  of  Mith- 
ra.  The  Aryans  had  the  seven  horses  that  drew  the 
chariot  of  the  sun;  the  seven  Apris  or  shapes  of  the 
flame;  the  seven  rays  of  Agni;  the  seven  steps  of 
Buddha  at  his  birth.  The  Egyptians  had  divided 
their  nation  into  seven  classes;  the  week  into  seven 
days:  according  to  them  the  creation  was  com- 
pleted in  seven  days.  Among  the  Hebrews,  we 
find  the  seven  lamps  of  the  ark,  and  of  Zacharias 
vision;  the  seven  branches  of  the  golden  candlestick; 
the  seven  days  of  the  feast  of  the  dedication  of  the 
temple;  the  seven  years  of  plenty;  and  the  seven 
years  of  famine.  In  the  Christian  dispensation,  the 
seven  churches  with  the  seven  angels  at  their  head; 
the  seven  golden  candlesticks;  the  seven  heads  of 
the  beast  that  rose  from  the  sea;  the  seven  seals  of 
the  book;  the  seven  trumpets  of  the  angels;  the 


148  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

seven  vials  full  of  the  wrath  of  God;  the  seven  last 
plagues  of  Apocalypse.  In  Greek  mythology,  the 
seven  heads  of  the  hydra  killed  by  Hercules,  the 
seven  islands  sacred  to  Proserpine  mentioned  by 
Proclus. 

The  prevalence  of  seven  as  a  mystic  number 
among  the  inhabitants  of  the  "  Western  Continent " 
is  not  less  remarkable.  It  frequently  occurs  in  the 
Popol-  Vuh.  We  find  it  besides  in  the  seven  families 
said  by  Sahagun  and  Clavigero  to  have  accompanied 
the  mystical  personage  named  Votan,  the  reputed 
founder  of  the  great  city  of  Nachan,  identified  by 
some  with  Palenque.  In  the  seven  caves  from  which 
the  ancestors  of  the  Nahualts  are  reported  to  have 
emerged.  In  the  seven  cities  of  Cibola,  described 
by  Coronado  and  Mza,  the  site  of  which  has  been 
accurately  fixed  by  Mr.  Frank  Gushing  in  the  im- 
mediate neighborhood  of  the  village  of  Zuni.  In 
the  seven  Antilles;  in  the  Seven  heroes  who,  we  are 
told,  escaped  the  deluge. 

1  Can  it  be  maintained  that  this  acceptation  of 
seven  as  a  mystic  number  by  nations  so  heterogene- 
ous and  living  so  far  apart,  and  from  the  remotest 
ages,  is  purely  accidental  ?  The  origin  of  its  mysti- 
fication has  never  been  explained.  It  has  been 
transmitted  to  us  by  our  predecessors,  who  them- 
selves had  accepted  it  from  theirs,  without  knowing 
why  it  was  made  the  sacred  number  of  the  third 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  149 

degree  in  the  rites  of  initiation  into  Freemasonry. 
True,  in  receiving  the  degree  the  initiated  are  told 
the  esoteric  meaning  attached  to  it  in  modern  times; 
but  this  meaning  does  not  give  the  origin  of  its 
mystification.  In  fact,  it  is  an  invention  of  our  days. 

That  it  was  the  sacred  number  of  the  highest  de- 
gree of  the  sacred  mysteries  in  May  ax  is  evident. 
We  have  seen  that  3  was  the  number  of  the  male 
children  of  king  Can;  5  that  of  his  sons  and  daugh- 
ters; 7  was  consequently  that  of  the  members  of 
the  whole  family.  It  is  not  therefore  improbable 
that  to  commemorate  that  fact,  7  was  made  the 
sacred  number  of  the  third  degree  of  their  sacred 
mysteries,  and  that  this  was  the  origin  of  its  mys- 
tification. 

In  these  pages  I  have  presented,  without  com- 
mentaries, a  few  of  the  facts  that  twelve  years  re- 
searches among  the  ruins  of  the  antique  temples 
and  palaces  of  the  Mayas,  a  knowledge  of  their 
language  (still  spoken  by  their  descendants,  and  in 
some  places,  as  in  the  vicinity  of  Peten,  in  all  its 
pristine  purity);  the  deciphering  of  certain  mural 
inscriptions;  the  study  of  the  sacred  book  of  the 
Quiches,  and  the  interpretation  of  passages  in  the 
Troano  MS.,  have  disclosed  to  me  concerning  the 
history,  civilization,  cosmogonical  conceptions,  re- 
ligious tenets  and  practices  of  the  ancient  inhabi- 
tants of  Yucatan. 


150  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

It  is  for  you,  reader,  to  judge  if  such  facts  are 
worthy  your  consideration,  and  of  the  truthful- 
ness of  my  assertion  that  a  knowledge  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  primitive  dwellers  in  these  "  Lands  of 
the  West"  will  help  to  raise  the  veil  that  has 
covered  during  so  many  centuries  the  origin  of  the 
first  traditions  of  mankind.  Although  in  the  first 
annual  report  of  the  executive  committee  of  the 
" Archaeological  institute  of  America,"  we  read 
that:  "The  study  of  American  archaeology  relates 
indeed  to  the  monuments  of  a  race  that  never  at- 
tained to  a  high  degree  of  civilization  and  that  has 
left  no  trustworthy  records  of  continuous  history. 
It  was  a  race  whose  intelligence  was  for  the  most 
part  of  a  low  order,  whose  sentiments  and  emotions 
were  confined  within  a  narrow  range,  and  whose 
imagination  was  never  quickened  to  find  expression 
of  itself  in  poetic  or  artistic  forms  of  beauty.  From 
what  it  was  or  what  it  did,  nothing  is  to  be  learned 
that  has  any  direct  bearing  on  the  progress  of  civil- 
ization." With  all  due  respect  for  the  learning  of 
the  gentlemen  who  have  attached  their  names  to  so 
astounding  an  assertion,  I  beg  to  differ  from  their 
opinion  expressed  so  emphatically.  I  differ  because 
I  have  seen  and  photographed  the  constructions  left 
by  the  mighty  races  that  have  preceded  us  on  this 
continent.  They  have  not.  Because  I  have  studied 
for  years,  in  situ,  these  monuments  that  attest  to  the 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  151 

high  civilization  of  their  builders.  They  have  not. 
Because  I  have  learned  the  language  in  which  they 
have  consigned  part  at  least  of  their  history  in  in- 
scriptions carved  on  stones,  and  read  some  of  said 
inscriptions.  They  have  not.  Indeed,  on  this  con- 
tinent, not  far  from  New  Orleans,  exist  the  relics  of 
past  generations  which  are  as  interesting,  if  not 
more  so,  as  those  of  Egypt,  Babylonia,  Greece,  and 
Italy;  as  deserving  the  attention  of  all  students  of 
archaeology,  of  history,  of  ethnology,  and  philology. 
It  is  time  yet  to  save  from  utter  destruction  the  last 
records  of  ancient  American  history,  that  are  crum- 
bling every  day  more  and  more,  and  are  being  de- 
stroyed by  the  hand  of  ignorance  and  cupidity.  A 
few  years  more,  and  all  intelligible  traces  of  them 
will  have  disappeared.  Will  nothing  be  done  in  this 
country  to  preserve  what  remains  of  the  ancient 
American  civilization?  of  that  civilization  which 
seems  to  have  been  the  fountain-head  at  which  the 
philosophers  of  all  nations,  in  the  remotest  an- 
tiquity, have  come  to  acquire  knowledge  and  drink 
inspiration  from  the  learning  and  wisdom  of  the 
Maya  sages. 

Americans  have  established  in  Athens  schools  for 
the  study  of  Greek  Archaeology;  in  Alexandria,  for 
the  decipherment  of  the  inscriptions  carved  on  the 
walls  of  the  temples,  on  the  obelisks,  and  in  the 
papyri  found  in  the  tombs  in  Egypt;  is  it  not  time 


152  SACRED  MYSTERIES  AMONG 

that  students  in  United  States  should  direct  their 
attention  to  the  ancient  history  of  the  continent  on 
which  they  live  ?  It  is  not  altogether  lost,  and  the 
tongue  in  which  it  is  written  is  not  a  dead  language. 
Maya  is  one  of  the  oldest  forms  of  speech,  coeval,  if 
not  anterior  to  Sanscrit.  The  names  Alpha,  Beta, 
Gamma,  etc.,  etc.,  of  the  letters  of  the  Greek  alpha- 
bet, form  a  curious  epic  poem  in  that  language. 
There  are  many  interesting  inscriptions  in  it  that 
only  await  decipherment  to  illumine  the  past  records 
of  the  race  in  America.  Many  of  these  precious  doc- 
uments exist  in  the  City  of  New  York.  They  will 
reveal  the  history  of  the  mighty  nations  that  have 
dwelt  on  this  "  Western  Continent; "  they  will  tell 
us  of  the  origin  of  many  of  our  primitive  traditions. 
Why  then  not  found  in  Yucatan,  in  the  midst  of 
the  ruins  of  the  temples  and  colleges  of  the  learned 
priesthood  of  Mayax,  a  school  where  students  of 
American  archaeology  can  learn  with  their  language, 
what  the  Maya  sages  knew  of  man's  origin,  of  his 
intellectual  development,  of  the  past  of  their  people, 
of  the  colonists  they  sent  to  other  parts  of  the  world, 
where  they  carried  the  arts,  sciences,  and  religion  of 
the  mother  country  and  its  civilization  from  which 
our  own  is  descended  ? 

After  twelve  years  of  incessant  labors  and  great 
hardships,  unaided  by  any  government  or  scientific 
society,  having  to  encounter  opposition,  and  sur- 


THE  MAYAS  AND  THE  QUICHES.  153 

mount  countless  difficulties  placed  maliciously  in 
our  way  by  those  whose  duty  it  should  have  been  to 
afford  us  all  protection,  robbed  of  our  finds  by  the 
Mexican  government  which  has  even  refused  to 
indemnify  us  for  the  money  expended  in  making 
these  discoveries,  Mrs.  Le  Plongeon  and  myself, 
after  saving  from  destruction  many  important  docu- 
ments and  relics,  have  at  last  found  a  key  that  will 
unlock  the  door  of  that  chamber  of  mysteries.  Shall 
it  be  allowed  to  remain  closed  much  longer  ?  We 
have  lifted,  in  part  at  least,  the  veil  that  has  hung 
so  long  over  the  history  of  mankind  in  America  in 
remote  ages.  Shall  it  be  allowed  to  fall  again? 
Will  no  efforts  be  made  by  American  students,  by 
men  of  wealth  and  leisure  in  the  United  States,  to 
remove  it  altogether  ? 


INDEX. 


Aac,  his  history,  78-79. 

—  protecting  genius  of,  90. 

—  offer  of  marriage  by,  83. 
Abel,  murder  of,  74. 

—  meaning  of  the  name  of,  85. 
Adam,  a  myth,  1. 
Adrian,  Emperor,  27. 

Ah  -ao-  chapat,  seven-headed 
serpent,  its  meaning,  67. 

Akkadian  language,  33. 

Alom,  the  creator,  56. 

Alexander  the  Great,  29. 

Amautas,  47, 

Angrand,  quoted,  108. 

Arch,  triangular,  37. 

Architects,  foundation  of  soci- 
ety of,  3. 

Ardvi  $oura  anahita  (god- 
dess), 28. 

Asp,  badge  of  royalty,  why, 
119. 

—  figure  of  Central  America, 

120. 
Atlantis,  submerged,  41. 

—  record  of  submersion  of,  in 

Egypt  and  Mayax,  91. 

—  figured  as  a  black  man,  92. 

—  its  destruction,  11, 500  years 

ago,  106. 

Aum,  figured  as  an  equilateral 
triangle,  60. 


Auvergne,    (Guy   of)  burned 
alive,  3. 


Bacon,  Roger,  quoted,  50. 

Balche,  nectar,  anirita,  bev- 
erage of  the  gods,  94. 

Bdli,  murdered,  77. 

Bearded  men  in  Mayax,  71. 

Benoit  (Pope),  renews  bull  of 
excommunication,  6. 

Berosus,  on  the  creation  of  the 
world  according  to  the 
Chaldees,  110. 

Bird  deity  at  Kioto,  Japan, 
107. 

Birch,  Samuel,  quoted,  26. 

Bitol,  creator,  56. 

Black  populations  in  America, 
87. 

Bottles,  Chinese,  found  in  the 
tombs  of  Egypt,  in  the 
ruins  of  Hissarlik,  57. 

Brahmins,  29-32. 

Brothers  (in  India),  29. 

Bruce,  Robert,  gives  protec- 
tion to  the  Knights  Tem- 
plars, 3. 

Building  Associations,  Ro- 
man, 14. 

Burnouf,  Emile,  57. 


156 


INDEX. 


Cabiri  (mysteries),  18. 
Camazotz,  god  of  bats,  44. 
Can,  king  of  Mayax,  45. 

—  his  family,  77. 

—  royal  titles  of,  83. 

—  deified,     and    represented 

with  a  mastodon's  head, 
93. 

—  members  of  his  family  wor- 

shiped in  Japan,  95. 

Cay,  high  pontiff,  19,  45. 

Chamber  of  Police  of  Paris, 
prohibit  Freemasonry,  6. 

Charles  I.,  King,  4. 

Chichen-Itza,  the  city  of  ser- 
pents, 108. 

Christians,  first,  1. 

Church  of  Rome  opposes  Free- 
masonry, 5. 

—  accuses    M . '.    of    heresy, 

burns  them  alive,  12. 

—  persecutes  Chaldean  magi- 

c  i  a  n  s  and  Egyptian 
priests,  14. 

Cibola,  seven  cities  of,  48. 

Cilician  pirates,  27. 

Circular  buildings  in  Yuca- 
tan, their  use,  64. 

Clement  V.  (Pope),  abolishes 
the  order  of  Knights 
Templars,  3. 

-  entices  Jacques  de  Molay 
to  Paris,  2. 

—  death  of,  4. 

Clement  XII.  (Pope),  excom- 
municates  all  Free- 
masons, 6. 

—  persecutes  them,  7. 


Clement  of  Alexandria,  quot- 
ed, 25. 

Cogolludo,  quoted,  124. 

Coh,  murdered  by  his  brother, 
80. 

—  who  was,  78. 

—  analysis  of  remains  of,  84. 

—  statue  of,  robbed  by  Mexi- 

can Government,  87. 
Colebrook,  H.  T.,  quoted,  54, 

72. 

Collegia  of  Romans,  2,  13. 
Coleraine,    Lord,   founded   a 

lodge    in  Gibraltar  and 

another  in  Madrid,  6. 
Communications   between 

Egypt   and    India    and 

China,  57. 
Conceptions     concerning      a 

Triune  God,  53,  54,  55,  56, 

58. 
Confucius,  56. 

—  quoted,  144. 
Coronado,  quoted,  148. 
Creation  of  the  world,  myth 

found    in    Chichen-Itza, 
72. 

—  myth  of,  in  various  coun- 

tries, 109. 

—  its  origin  traced  to  Mayax, 

111. 

—  portrayed  on  East  fagade 

of    Palace   at    Chicheri- 
Itza,  112. 

—  tableau  of,  explained,  114. 
Cromzoell,  4. 

Cross,  as  sacred  symbol  of 
water  deities  among  all 
nations,  of  the  life  to 
come,  and  eternity,  128. 


INDEX. 


157 


Cross,  as  symbol  in  Bacchic 
and  Eleusinian  mys- 
teries, 129. 

—  symbol  of  the,  in  America, 

129. 

—  god  of  rain,  130. 

—  southern,  132. 

Crown  of  lower  Egypt,  the 
same  as  that  worn  by 
kings  in  Mayax,  118. 

Customs,  many  similar  in  In- 
dia, Mayax,  and  Egypt, 
97. 

Gushing,  Frank,  quoted,  47, 
148. 

Cyril,  (Bishop)  murderer  of 
Hypathia,  persecuted  the 
worshipers  of  Isis  and 
Osiris,  16. 


E 


Egyptian  civilization,  birth- 
place of,  113. 

Emperors,  Roman,  persecuted 
the  Chaldean  magicians 
and  Egyptian  priests  to 
death,  15. 

Ephoroi,  19,  22. 

Epoptai,  23. 

Essenes,  1, 

Eubulus,  quoted,  27,  46. 

Eumolpus,  initiated  to  Egypt- 
ian sacred  mysteries  in- 
stituted those  of  Eleusis, 
18. 

Eusebius,  quoted,  57,  72,  99. 

Eusoph,  equilateral  triangle, 
60. 


Damascius,  quoted,  53. 

Danaus"1  Daughters,  18. 

Daniel,  prophet,  quoted,  30, 
45. 

Degrees  (3)  in  Freemasonry, 
among  the  Jesuits,  and 
the  Egyptian  priests,  12. 

Deluge,  tradition  of,  common 
to  all  nations  where  the 
name    Maya   is   found, 
90. 

—  what  the  Egyptians  said  of, 

91. 

—  relation  of,  in  Troano  M.  S. 

and  mural   inscriptions, 

92. 

Democritus,  54. 
Druids,  2. 


Fanton,  (Dr.)  opinion  of,  17,33. 

Fergusson,  James,  quoted,  99, 
122,  123. 

Fernando,  VI.,  of  Spain, 
makes  Freemasonry  high 
treason,  6. 

Fi-Fangpao,  57. 

Findel,  J.  GK,  opinion  of,  10. 

Four,  number,  its  meaning, 
105. 

Francis  of  Lorraine  (Duke) 
initiated, protects 
masons,  founds  lodges,  7. 

Fratricide,  account  of  the 
same  in  Genesis,  Ramay- 
ana,  papyri  of  Egypt, 
inscriptions  of  Mayax, 
84. 


158 


INDEX. 


FT eemasonry,  various 
opinions  concerning  orig- 
in of,  1,  2. 

—  persecuted,  5,  6. 

—  established  in  France  and 

Spain,  6. 

—  in  Ireland,  Italy,  America, 

Lisbon,  7. 

—  in  Germany,  8. 

—  origin  of,  traced  to  Ameri- 

ca, 22. 

Frederick  II.  of  Prussia,  in- 
itiated, assumes  the  title 
of  G. '.  M.\  Universal, 
frames  a  constitution,  8, 
9. 

G 

Ganesha,  god  of  letters,  its  re- 
presentation, its  worship, 
96. 

—  origin  of  its  elephant  head, 

97. 

G  a  r  c  i  I  a  s  s  o  de  la  Vega, 
quoted,  46. 

George  I.  ascends  the  throne, 
5. 

George  (Bishop),  persecutes 
the  worshipers  of  Isis 
and  Osiris,  16. 

Gods,  twelve,  of  Egyptians, 
Greeks,  Mayas,  Japan- 
ese, Chinese,  96. 

Grand  Master,  degree  of, 
created,  4. 

Grand  Lodge,  first  establish- 
ed in  London,  5,  32. 

Gregory  of  Nazianze,  quoted, 
81. 


6fucumatz,    winged    serpent, 
the  creator,  112. 


Hach-mac,  45. 

Henoch,  book  of,  quoted,  16, 

21,  24,  25,  37,  44. 
Herodotus,  quoted,  15. 

—  concerning    the    Thesmo- 

phoria,  18,  60. 
-  quoted,  74,  134. 
Hermippus,  28. 
Hermetic  books,   relation   of 

creation  in  modern,  111. 
Hierophantes,  19,  32. 
Hiu-chin,  quoted,  55. 
House,  dark;  43. 
House  of  spears,  43. 

—  ice,  43. 

—  tiger,  44. 

—  fiery,  44. 

—  of  bats,  44. 
Hunhun  Appu,  44. 


Hluminati,  incorporated  into 

Freemasonry,  9. 
Initiations     into     Egyptian 

mysteries,    but   little 

known,  16. 

—  into  Eleusinian  mysteries, 

19,  20,  22,  23,  24. 
Inquisition      persecutes 

Masons,  5. 
Isis,  meaning  of  the  name,  87. 

—  her  title,  her  totem,  88. 


INDEX. 


159 


St  believed  to  be  a  fabulous 
being,  89. 


James  II.,  4. 

Japanese,    offspring    of    the 

twelve  gods,  95. 
Jerome,  Saint,  31. 
John  the  Baptist,  St.,  selected 

patron  of  the  M.  *.  Order, 

5. 
Juan  Gaston  of  Medicis, 

(Duke)   persecutes 

Masons,  7. 


K 

Khan,  titles  of  kings  in  Asia, 
origin  of  it,  83. 

Kings,  three,  60. 

Kneph,  name  of  the  creator, 
53. 

Knights  of  Christ,  order  of, 
founded,  3. 

Knights  Templars,  take  ref- 
uge in  Scotland  and 
Portugal,  3. 

—  refuse  to  recognize  the  au- 

thority of  J.  M.  Larme- 
nio,  12. 

—  received     their     symbols 

from  Christians  initiated 

into  Egyptian  mysteries, 

12. 

Krause,  quoted,  13. 
Kronos,  king  of  the  "  Lands  of 

the  West,"  53. 


La,  meaning  of  the  word,  54. 

Lab-mac,  title  of  high  priest 
among  the  Mayas,  30. 

Landa  (Bishop),  quoted,  64, 
68,  70,  124. 

Larmenio,  Johan  Marcus — 
appointed  Grand  Master 
of  the  K.  Templars,  3. 

Leibnitz,  initiated  into  Free- 
masonry, 15. 

Leopard  skin  as  a  symbol,  86. 

Lopi,  quoted,  55. 


M 

Ma,  the  world,  33. 
Macrobius,  his  meaning  of  the 

triangular  arch,  63. 
Magi,  30,  32. 
Maha-atma,  the    great  soul, 

55. 
Maha-atmas,  the  brothers,  29, 

45. 
Manco  Capac,  founder  of  the 

Inca  empire,  47. 
Marriage,  custom  among  the 

Mayas,  78. 
Maria,  Virgin,  goddess  Mai'a- 

Isis  anthropomorphised, 

131. 

Mastodon,  worship  of,  93. 
—  explanation  of  tableau  re- 
presenting the  worship 

of,  94. 
Maya,  name  found  in  various 

countries,  71.  Challenges 

Bali.  76. 


160 


INDEX. 


Maya  empire  figured  as  a  ser- 
pent, 116. 

—  empire  figured  as  a  tree, 

125. 

—  empire    the    land    of   the 

deer  in  the  middle  of  the 
earth,  126. 

—  according  to  the  Chinese 

represented  as  a  tree,  127. 
Mayax,    description    of    the 

country  of,  69. 
Matthew,  Henry,  51. 
Mathusalath,  37. 
Memnon,    King  of  Ethiopia, 

57. 
Menes,  wise  men  of  the  Mayas, 

71. 

Mithra,  mysteries  of,  27. 
Moo,  who  she  was,  78. 

-  history  of  conspiracy, 

against,  81. 

—  rejects  the  love  of  Aac,  82. 
Molay,  Jacques  de,  enticed  to 

Paris  and  arrested,  2. 

—  burnt  alive,  3. 

-  appoints  his  successor,   3. 
Moses,  51. 

Mystai,  the  initiated,  19. 


Number  7,  origin  of  its  sym- 
bolization,  143,  149. 


O 

Oblong  Square,  its  meaning, 
34. 

—  its  origin  as  symbol,  62. 

—  forms  the  ground  plan  of 

temples  and  palaces,  62. 

Oliva,  Annello,  Fath.,  47. 

Origenes,  quoted,  28. 

Orpheus ,  initiated  into 
Egyptian  sacred  myster- 
ies founds  the  orphic,  18, 
53,  60,  135. 

Orphic  Mysteries,  72. 

Osiris,  34,  49. 

—  murder  of,  74. 

—  culture  hero,  74. 

—  his  history,  75. 

—  meaning  of  the  name,  87. 

—  believed  to  be  a  mythical 

being,  89. 
Ouranos,  53. 


Nahuatls,  48. 

Names,  various,  of  Cain  ex- 
plained, 89. 

Niroukta,  54. 

Niza,  148. 

Number  3,  origin  of  its  sym- 
bolization,  136. 

—  5,  origin  of  its  symboliza- 
tion,  141,  142. 


Pachacamac,  56. 

Pallas,  28. 

Parsis,  28. 

Payne,  Thomas,  2. 

Pentagon,  as  a  symbol,  its 
meaning,  63. 

Pentateuch,  not  written  by 
Moses,  51. 

Petroma,  19. 

Phillippe-le-bel,  causes  the  ar- 
rest of  J.  de  Molay,  2. 


INDEX. 


161 


Phillippe-le-bel,  death  of,  4. 

Philip  V.  of  /Spain,  persecutes 
masons,  6. 

Philostratus,  quoted,  29,  57. 

Phcenes,  53. 

Pianchi,  King  of  Ethiopia,  in- 
itiated, 26. 

Plato,  quoted,  41,  53. 

—  relation  of  submersion  of 

Atlantis  correct,  92. 

Plates  from  Troano  M.S.,  ex- 
planation of,  117  (note), 
126  (note),  137  (note),  139 
(note). 

Plutarch,  quoted,  27,  32,  63, 
74,  90,  93. 

Pompeius,  27. 

Popol-vuh,  initiations  de- 
scribed in,  42,  56. 

—  creation  of  the  world  in, 

111. 
Porphyrius,  quoted,  27,  28. 

—  his    explanation    of     the 

image  of  the  creator,  72. 

Poseidon,  53. 

Pradjapati,  55. 

Preston,  J.  G.,  4. 

Price,  Henry,  first  American 
Grand-master,  7. 

Primander,  most  ancient 
Egyptian  book,  also  Su- 
preme Intelligence,  110. 

Proclus,  quoted,  53,  60. 

Proposal  of  marriage,  mode  of, 
in  Mayax  and  Japan,  83. 

Puttman,  B.,  first  Grand-mas- 
ter in  Germany,  8. 

Pythagoras,  1. 

-  his  narrow  escape  when  in- 
itiated, 25,  54. 


Pythagoras,  God  number  and 

harmony,   according  to, 

—  on  number  four,  106.      [60. 


Q 


Qaholom,  name  of  the  creator, 

56. 
Quichua  language,  47. 


Ra,  meaning  of  the  name,  54. 

Rob-mag,  name  of  the  chief 
of  the  Magi,  30. 

Ramsay,  Michael  Andrew,  2. 

—  origin  of  Freemasonry  ac- 
cording to,  11, 

Rooms  in  temples,  their  shape 
symbolical,  63. 

Rosicrucians,  their  incor- 
poration into  Free- 
masonry, 9. 


Salisbury,  Stephen,  84. 

Sanctuary  at  Uxmal,  descrip- 
tion of,  35. 

Schliemann,  Henry,  quoted, 
57. 

Set,  meaning  of  the  name,  89. 

—  becomes  the  evil  principle, 

89. 

—  enemy  of  the  sun,  89. 

—  his  protecting  genius,  90. 

—  his  emblem,  90. 


162 


INDEX 


Serpent,  98. 

—  origin  of  its  worship  un- 

known, 100. 

—  when   considered  an    evil 

genius,  100. 

—  image  of  the  creator,  100- 

109. 

—  traces  of   its  worship   all 

over  the  world,  101. 

—  origin  of   its  worship  ac- 

cording   to    the    Maya 
priests,  109. 

—  symbol  of  the  country  in 

Mayax  and  in  Egypt,  116. 

—  worshiped   still   in  India, 

121. 

—  title  of  the  Kings  of  Mayax, 

121 

—  origin  of,  and  tree  worship 

in  America,  123. 

Solon,  41. 

Soul,  Maya  belief  in  immortal- 
ity of  the,  124. 

Sougriva,  causes  the  death  of 
Bali,  77. 

—  meaning  of  the  name,  90. 
Strabo,  quoted,  31. 
Strathmore,     Lord,     Grand- 
master, 8. 

Symbols,  masonic,  identical  in 
the  temples  of  Egypt, 
Chaldea,  India,  and  Cen- 
tral America,  11 

—  masonic,  in  Uxmal,  65,  their 

meaning,  66,  67, 

—  found  under   the  base  of 

Cleopatra's  needle,  17. 

—  of   worship,  the  same   in 

Mayax,  Egypt,  and  Peru, 
94,  105. 


Symbolization   of   number 
three,  136. 

—  of  number  five,  142. 

—  of  number  seven,  149. 


Tao-tse,  55. 

Tau,  meaning  of  mystic,  132. 

—  complex  form  of,  its  origin, 
132 

Temple  of  mysteries  at  CJx- 
nial,  36. 

Temptation,  origin  of  tempta- 
tion of  the  woman  in  the 
garden,  82,  83. 

Thales,  initiated  to  Egyptian 
sacred  mysteries,  18. 

Theon,  of  Smyrna,  quoted,  24. 

Theophilus  (Bishop),  perse- 
cutes the  worshipers  of 
Isis  and  Osiris,  16. 

Thesmophoria,  mysteries  of 
Ceres,  134. 

Thompson,  Charles  O.,  certi- 
ficate of  chemical  analy- 
sis, 84,  85. 

Thoth,  god  of  letters  in 
Egypt,  his  description  of 
the  creation,  110. 

Tiahuanuco,  explanation  of 
sculptures  on  Monolith  - 
gate,  at,  102. 

Ti-Hoang,  king  of  the  country 
in  the  middle  of  the  land, 
96. 

Tien-Hoang,  his  twelve  chil- 
dren, 96.  [124. 

Tree  worship  in  America,  123, 


INDEX. 


163 


Tree  worship  by  the  Phoenic- 
ians, Druids,  Scandina- 
vians, the  inhabitants  of 
Delos,  Samos,  Athens, 
Dodona,  Arcadia,  Ca- 
naan, India,  Ceylon,  123. 
Egypt,  Assyria,  124. 

—  relationship  between   the 

serpent   and    tree   wor- 
ship, 124. 

—  sacred,  among  the  Mayas, 

124. 
Triangle  as  a  symbol,  60. 

—  its    meaning   among    the 

Mayas,  61. 

—  its    meaning    among   the 

Egyptians,  63. 

Triangular  Arches,  symbols 
of  a  Triune  God,  62. 


Wilford,  Captain,  quoted,  30. 

William  III.,  King  of  Eng- 
land, initiated  into  Free- 
masonry, 4. 

Winged  circle,  symbol  of, 
124. 

Words  of  dismissal,  21. 

—  their  meaning,  22,  33. 

Worshipers  of  Isis  and  Osiris 
persecuted  by  Bishops 
George.  Theophilus, 
Cyril,  16. 


Xibalba,  42,  45,  48,  49. 


U 

Uati,  goddess,  genius  of  lower 

Egypt,  its  symbols,  115. 
Uiracocha,  god,  56. 


Yaqui  nation,  48. 

Yaxche,  sacred  tree  among  the 
Mayas,  124. 

—  origin  of  the  cruz-ansata, 
of  the  cone  as  symbol  of 
the  mystic  Tau,  132. 


Valmiki,  quoted,  75,  76. 
Villoison,  Dance  de,  quoted,  2. 


W 


Wake,  Stanyland,  quoted,  99. 


Zend-avesta,  28. 
Zoroaster,  institutes  the  mys- 
teries of  Mithra,  27,  28. 
—  his  explanation  of  the  tri- 
angular arch,  62. 
Zuni  Indians,  47,  48. 


